Med332 glamorous indie rock and roll

#med332 Glamorous indie rock’n’roll? @rob_jewi:

Defining ‘indie’

Defining a category like indie is not only problemaBc for scholars who seek to understand culture; it is also difficult for community members themselves … Fans and members of the BriBsh music industry oKen struggle to come to terms with defining something they feel they can recognize intuiBvely -‐ Fonarow, 2006: 25


1.  a type of musical produc-on affiliated with small independent record labels with a disBncBve mode of independent distribuBon

2.  a genre of music that has a parBcular sound and stylisBc convenBons

3.  music that communicates a parBcular ethos 4.  a category of cri-cal assessment 5.  music that can be contrasted with other

genres

The Big 3

34.1% 16.7% 22.5%

Record companies, physical and digital revenue market shares, 2012–14

Scale

In Britain alone it has been esBmated that there were 600 small companies in the mid-‐1990s (MMC 1994), while more recent directories oKen contain thousands of entries, given the marginal nature of these companies, and the expansion in music industries facilitated by the internet and the growth of DIY music, it is likely that this is a underesBmaBon -‐ Tim Wall 2013:137

RomanBcism Visionary label creators

'independent record companies have long held a cultural status that far exceeds the actual economic impact they have in the market place' -‐ Lee, 1995: 14

The discourse of indie…

•  More creaBve? •  Greater arBsBc freedom? •  Diversity? •  Be:er for the industry?

CelebraBon of Independent labels as sites of innovaBon from 2 camps: 1 -‐ Passion for record collecBon; ‘roots’; authenBcity 2 -‐ AnB-‐capitalist; pro-‐counter-‐culture

black capitalism self-‐empowerment

African-‐American equality undermined by the intervenBon of major companies following disco boom of the

late 1970s Independent hip-‐hop as the new African-‐

American empowerment

Majors Independents

Safe New/risky

Distant Intimate

Profit Art

Fake Real/genuine

Standardised Innovative

Conventional Radical

‘Whited-out’ Ethnically assertive

Middle-aged Youthful

Wall, p140



Indie as Mode of DistribuBon Indie charts vs mainstream pop chart

In 1977 there were 750 chart return shops in Britain, with 250 outlets recording their sales for the singles chart and 450 outlets recording their sales for the album chart. The UK charts were compiled from data on purchases made at selected outlets of major chain stores such as WHSmith and Woolworths, which also sell a broad variety of other goods, as well as from some of the megastores, such as Virgin, HMV, and Tower, which primarily sold music. -‐ Fonarow, 2006: 30

First NME indie chart: 1979

<-‐ Dec 1983

DiY labels

Simple > quick > cheap

1977: the Chiswick label recorded and manufactured 2,500 copies of an EP for £700

Fast Product Rough Trade Postcard

Zoo Records SBff

Factory

Mute Beggars Banquet Some Bizzare Cherry Red FicBon 4AD

DistribuBon

“The thing to do is to get your own distribuBon network then you’ve got control, you’ve got power. You can decide with musicians what gets out to the country and give people alternate means of informaBon” -‐ Geoff Travis in Hesmondhalgh, 1997: 265

The Cartel Revolver (Bristol), Red Rhino (York), Probe (Liverpool) 9 Mile (Leamington Spa), Fast Forward (Edinburgh),

Backs (Norwich), and Rough Trade (London).

Rough Trade was iniBally organized as a cooperaBve that stood in stark contrast to the structure of major corporaBons. IniBally, all Rough Trade employees, from directors to those working in the warehouse, were paid the same. All company decisions were made at general assemblies, and all employees were allowed to have a voice in company decisions. -‐ Fonarow, 2006: 34

The independent label dream . . . was that romanBc noBon of going it alone, pure and untainted by hype and mulBnaBonal marketeers” -‐ Cavanagh 2000: viii

Traits: •  RespecBng arBsBc vision •  FacilitaBng not intervening •  Not concerned with popularity •  Local autonomy •  RejecBon of corporate values •  RejecBon of London-‐based corporates •  Favoured smaller retail outlets

1990s

Indie became high profile in dedicated music press Major labels bought smaller labels

The decision to take the independent route represented an emoBonal rejecBon, based on ethics and poliBcal beliefs, of everything the major labels stood for . . . major labels were greedy corporaBons staffed by uncool straights who maltreated and undermined their arBsts, and thought nothing of diluBng the art itself to make it commercially viable . . . here was the righteous indie band making interesBng music without compromise; and over there was the banally ambiBous, morally capitulaBng group that had sold its soul to a major label for money. -‐ Cavanagh 2000: 38–39




genres

LimitaBon of mode of producBon? Many genres can be independent (techno, drum & bass, house, jungle, hardcore, etc)

BriBsh indie “has itself se:led into sBfling orthodoxy: an insistence on short songs, lo-‐fi, minimalism, purism, and guitars, guitars, guitars” -‐ Simon Reynolds in Kruse, 1993: 36

Indie music is generally played by slender young white males in their late teens to early thirBes. Most indie bands are basic four-‐piece combos with electric guitar, bass, drums, and vocals. Although other instruments such as strings, keyboards, organs, or horns do appear, the four-‐piece combo is the primary structure for indie bands. -‐ Fonarow, 2006:

Feminine-‐genre?

“anB-‐macho shrinking violet,” “terrifyingly fey,” “[a] melancholic take on indiedom’s bookish wimpiness” -‐ Harris 2003: 386





genres

A|tude

“The theory of independence was discovered in the act of pu|ng out your own records, doing very well, being friends with your arBsts, and not ripping them off. And by 1981 we were all doing it” -‐ Tony Wilson in Harris 2003: 8

Class

Generally a middle-‐class phenomenon (university/art school educated) Idealizes working class experiences as ‘authenBc’





genres

CriBcal? •  Image of the ‘anorak’ or ‘trainspo:er’ •  Obsessive •  Self-‐referenBal and self-‐reflexive •  MasochisBc and introspecBve

IntrospecBon •  What the hell am I doing here? / I don’t belong here

–  “Creep” by Radiohead •  I’ll be the corpse in your bathtub / Useless

–  “Newborn” by Elbow •  I sit all alone / Alone is all I’ll ever be

–  “Season” by Ash

•  I can show you sadder poetry / than you ever dreamed there could be / I know all the saddest people / most of them are dead now

–  “Save a Secret for the Moon” by the MagneBc Fields

•  I think I’m drowning / asphyxiaBng . . . –  “Time Is Running Out” by Muse

•  So you go, and you stand on your own / and you leave on your own / and you go home and you cry / and you want to die

–  “How Soon Is Now” by the Smiths)





genres

Indie as a Mode of AestheBc Judgment

•  DiscriminaBng •  EvaluaBve •  A discursive pracBce •  Canonical

EliBsm

BRITs vs Brats

The ArcBc Monkeys

Internet fanbase via MySpace Singed to indie label Domino in June 2005 Signed to EMI Publishing in Octover 2005 for approx £1 million 23rd October 2005 : debut single enters charts at No.1 2006: Debut album was the fastest selling BriBsh debut of all Bme Sparked a race to find idenBkit bands

BRIT awards 2008

The backlash “ScouBng For Girls somehow occupy a realm of musical badness that even the Darkness' JusBn Hawkins at his most creaBvely distraught may sBll find difficult to comprehend. How bad is this supernaturally bad "badness" which ScouBng For Girls have virtually turned into an art form? One could say that they're the Kooks but wacky (and therefore worse), but that requires some context. So here it is: in 2006 the Kooks first entered the Top 20, excelling at the type of bland, crowd-‐pleasing hit-‐wriBng that propelled indie music from being independently spirited to becoming the mainstream pop genre…”

The backlash “…By 2007 a generaBon of teen TV presenters rode this wave of mediocre pseudo-‐indie and Channel 4's schedules were filled with woeful, will-‐this-‐do music shows sponsored by phone companies. Bands like the Pigeon DetecBves and the AutomaBc had hits; at the end of the 2007 fesBval season ScouBng For Girls scored their first Top 10 single. Indie was the new pop, but it had also turned beige.”

Indie post-‐internet •  Many of the defining characterisBcs are no longer factors (ie producBon,

distribuBon, retail) •  Easier to reach a wider and more dispersed audience •  ShiK towards live music sales over prerecorded sales

Education

Med332 glamorous indie rock and roll