Indie music refers to music produced by independent, or self-managed, artists. This can refer to musicians producing their own songs or singing and/or rapping over other people’s music, like a remix.

Indie music has grown in popularity over the past few years as more and more people become interested in listening to music produced by independent artists. This is likely because of the ease in which one can create and distribute music via the internet.

With platforms like SoundCloud, Spotify, and YouTube making it easy to upload, stream, and share music, it has never been easier to be an indie artist. This also means that there is a higher chance of finding success as an artist since you do not have to go through a big record label to do so.

However, this also comes with some downsides. Because indie artists are self-managed, they must take on more responsibility such as marketing themselves and distributing their music.

How to be indie

Indie music artists are musicians that do not belong to a music label. A music label can be either independent or corporate, and most often recruits new artists on the indie scene to join their roster.

Music labels offer many things to their artists, but the most important is access to resources such as marketing, publicity, and distribution. These things are very hard to get on your own, which is why many indie artists join labels.

Besides that, labels can help with financing your music production costs as well. This allows you to focus completely on creating good music instead of how you are going to pay for things like studio time and equipment.

Indie music has been around for quite some time now, so if you are looking for new artist inspiration, look no further than the internet! There are many sites that list and promote indie artists so that you can find your new favorite musician.

Indie culture

A related, growing phenomenon that has influenced the music industry is indie culture. Indie refers to things that are not mainstream, or are independent of large corporations or institutions.

Indie music is made by independent musicians. This can be explained by the fact that most indie artists do not belong to a music label. Music labels used to have the power to promote music and bring it to the mainstream, but today, with the rise of social media, this is no longer true.

Indie music is also closely linked to specific subcultures. For example, punk rock is a subculture that has many underground bands that become very popular within their scene, but may not reach popularity beyond it.

Indie culture also embraces different identities and styles. People who are part of this culture identify with it and dress and act in certain ways to show this.

Why is indie music so popular?

Music has become a very personal thing. People are not only attracted to music because of its emotional or atmospheric qualities, but also because of how it makes them feel.

Artists are able to create their own music and promote themselves, which gives people who cannot afford huge marketing campaigns and expensive studio time the opportunity to showcase their talent.

Indie artists now have the ability to post their music on music streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music, where millions of listeners can find them. Social media also helps spread the word about new music.

Music fans love discovering new songs and artists, which helps promote indie musicians further. The love for indie music is constantly growing, making it a solid market to enter.

Indie artists have more control

As mentioned before, indie artists have more control over their music, and this is because they do not work with major labels.

Major labels have A&R teams who scour the world for new music to promote and sell to the public. They do this by signing artists to contracts that require them to use the label’s resources to promote their music and earn a profit from it.

However, many indie musicians develop their music independently, without any external help or influence. This allows for a more pure sound that is not influenced by marketing tactics.

indieMusic was founded with the goal of helping independent musicians reach as wide an audience as possible, so that they can share their art with the world.

Indie artists focus on their talent

Unlike some music genres, indie music does not emphasize the music over the lyrics or the melody over the rhythm.

Indie artists focus on all aspects of music and lyrics, creating a complete song rather than a repetitive beat with no vocals or a ton of instrumentals with no sung lyrics.

Many indie musicians experiment with different sounds, leaving out some elements to emphasize others. For example, some songs have no bass or heavier drums to emphasize the vocals or melody.

Indie music is also very open to different genres, allowing artists to showcase their personal style and creativity. Some artists even combine multiple genres into one song to showcase all of their influences and what they create together.

Indie music is not only produced by independent artists, but also reflects the independent mindset of the artist.

Peer pressure affects popular music

A big reason why popular music tends to be similar is because of peer pressure. Popular music is not made independently- rather, those within the industry are influenced by those above them and those around them.

Artists are influenced by current music trends to create new songs, producers are influenced by other producers’ sounds to produce new music, and executives are influenced by sales numbers to pick what’s next.

This is not a negative thing, it is simply how the industry works. The people in the industry are very much talent-driven, however, so there is certainly some quality control.

Indie artists, however, tend to be more talent-driven than those in the mainstream industry due to lack of influence from others.

Independent artists are more competitive

As mentioned before, the music industry is changing. It is no longer just major labels releasing music. Now, anyone can release music with the help of technology.

Indie artists are pouring into the music industry and creating some amazing music. Technically, anyone can be an indie artist!

Tech has given artists the tools to create their own musical identity and market themselves. Software like Fruity Loops or Apple Music allows artists to create songs, and platforms like Spotify allow them to freely promote them.

They can also market themselves on social media and via their own websites and/or marketing campaigns. This puts indie artists on par with major labels in terms of marketing.

Their only disadvantage is the lack of resources (marketing funds, personnel, etc.) provided by them.

Independent artists are more innovative

As mentioned before, the music industry has changed drastically in the past decade. With the rise of technology, artists no longer need a big label to promote themselves.

Artists are now free to create their own music videos, distribute their music on as many platforms as they would like, and market themselves however they choose. This is why you see so many independent artists growing rapidly on Spotify and other streaming services.

They are able to gain more followers and fans by sharing their music on as many platforms as possible, creating more exposure. They also cut out the cost of having a big label support them, so they can invest more money into making better music and promoting themselves.

Independent artists are also very innovative. We have seen many different musical genres arise due to independent artists being bold enough to try new things.