The term “Indie”

An independent label is defined by the Association of Independent Records (AIM) as one with a controlling share over any Major label shareholder:

A “major” is defined in AIM’s constitution as a multinational company which (together with the companies in its group) has more than 5% of the world market(s) for the sale of records and/or music videos. The majors are (currently) Sony BMG, Warner, EMI, and the Universal Music Group (which incorporates Polygram).(…)

If a major owns 50% or less of the total shares in your company, you would not (usually) be owned or controlled by that major.

In that case, you can join AIM.

But music lovers continue to protest and debate about where to draw the line, what the term means, who can use it, and how, as one Toronto music blogger recently demonstrated, with graphs! Quotes below..

Here’s my biggest pet peeve about people/music/and the internet music world: music snobbery and the use of the term indie to score cool points or to market an album/artist rather than using the term to describe an album/artist that has released an album independent of any record label support (which means that even if you’re on a small label, you are not independent, indie).

This doesn’t mean that releasing an album independently means that its going to be good, or bad, its just a statement of fact.

Major labels tend to release albums that are going to appeal to more people.

Smaller labels tend to cater to niche markets.

Independent albums are all over the map, some bands want to be signed on a big label, some don’t. Some artists release the albums as a hobby and some people want to make it a career (although, given the choice, I think there are a lot of people who wouldn’t object to being paid zillions of dollars to make music).

(…)

So, while I don’t begrudge the success of musicians/bands who successfully market themselves as “indie” (okay, I do a little bit) it seems to me that its counter-intuitive to what music is about. And music can be about a lot of things: advocating for justice, expressing feeling, scoring chicks, grinding it up on the dancefloor, whatever. And those who frequent this blog (Burgeoning Metropolis for people reading elsewhere) will know that I like a lot of different kinds of music — for instance my last picks of the week have been: #34 a rap album, #33 a college a cappella album, #32 a dance-pop album, #31 a folk-americana album, #30 a roots-rock album, #29 a country-rock album, and so forth.

What I’m saying is that I understand that people like music for different reasons, and I think that’s a good thing.

What I’m also saying is that people should like music for those different reasons – because they want to advocate for justice, share feelings, etc. – and not because they get a kick out of telling their friends that they knew about X before they got popular (though, it is fun to see a band you like have success.)

Go to Source: A Pet Peeve, re: the term “Indie”