Thoughts on iTunes’ Recently Added Indie Music Genre
iTunes recently added “Indie” to their list of music genre pages in the store. Included in the genre are sub-indie genres Electronic, Rock, Hip-Hop, Dance, and Pop.
I think this is a really great idea, because today’s alternative music is a lot different than it was a few years ago. Mainstream rock artists have become the norm for what’s hot in alternative, and the Top Songs list on iTunes’ alternative page currently includes many new hits from bands like Imagine Dragons and Fall Out Boy, whose songs are anything but conventional indie rock.
From an indie listener’s standpoint, I attest that it can be quite frustrating trying to discover new music when the current charts and featured music are loaded with big-name alternative artists. I welcome this new change, if only for the fact that it will be easier pinpointing new music from artists I enjoy (whose music may not make it to the front page of alternative nowadays).
I’ve mentioned this before on my journal, but although I value each of us having different tastes in music, and believe we can like what we like to listen to music-wise, I also believe indie music has a vibrant, unique culture that is being overshadowed by new and hot alternative artists.
That’s not to say today’s examples of alternative music aren’t ‘good’, they’re just different. And iTunes’ change reflects that.
So while some may think segregating alternative from indie music is a bad thing, I think it’s actually reasonable when you take what the state of new music is into consideration.
It’s also reasonable when you look at the diversity of our tastes. In an ideal for this situation, each of us would have a unique homepage on the iTunes Store filled with featured music of artists we enjoy. And while that’s technically possible, music genres exist for the reason of categorizing music so that the new listener can figure out where his or her tastes lie within the music spectrum. A world without genres would be an incredibly difficult world to navigate.
So, all in all, I admire iTunes for putting forth this new change in their list of music genres. I think it makes clear sense considering how the landscape of alternative has altered in this new decade, and how no artist can really be defined by a single genre (or vice versa).