the.com/indie
the freedom to fail loudly without a label telling you to stop
means Describing music, film, games, or other creative work produced independently of major corporate backing — and the scrappy, self-directed aesthetic that often comes with it.
from A clipping of "independent," which traces back through French to the Latin in- ("not") plus dependere ("to hang from"). So an independent thing literally doesn't hang off anything else. The short form "indie" rose through 20th-century entertainment talk — first for independent film studios and labels operating outside the big players, later spreading to music and beyond, where it came to mean as much a vibe as a business arrangement.
- word origin
- short for independent, born in 1920s film
- sound, not genre
- describes funding, not chords or vibe
- basement empires
- countless huge acts started self-released and broke
- gaming surge
- solo devs outsell studios with single-person teams
- identity paradox
- major labels now market bands as authentically indie
nirvana — seattle band that defined grunge and indie rock in the 1990s
the smiths — manchester band led by morrissey, foundational to 1980s indie rock
arcade fire — montreal band that revitalized indie rock with funeral in 2004
pixar — independent animation studio founded by steve jobs in 1986 before disney acquisition