The concept of Indie music is that it stands out independently from mass-producing record labels and has a sort of DIY autonomous feel to it. Indie music is almost like a protest to the authoritative structures of the music industry and has mostly run parallel to mainstream music due to these processes.
The history of music in our culturally immense country has been one of turbulence. Even in the Old World, music and rhythm was incredibly diverse, with influx of influences from within and from outside the country. It isn’t all that surprising, then, that even good ol’ Western rock n roll was adapted quickly and efficiently into an Indian format, even with the radical conservativeness of the middle class. The natural progression that this genre has taken as it slowly seeped into Indian culture is amazing. Once viewed as loud and harsh, the bass and overdrive of rock music captivated the minds of a select few and with visits from prominent early rockers like The Beatles, catapulted the rock scene in the country. Radio was also the most widespread media and every household had one; the Rolling Stones were a common name. The bands of this time were few, but popular. No funding, even less venues and obviously no labels to sign them up were huge deterrents, yet some acts managed to promote their sound a little. 60s and 70s bands like Atomic Forest and Waterfront were not only able to record some material, but also play gigs in different cities, which, at that point was huge.
When MTV came into the scene, it changed everything. It was possible for everyone to watch videos of Guns N Roses and other such foreign bigwigs, along with interesting new styles of international rock as of yet unheard like alternative, punk, and progressive. This mainstream promotion did a lot to help locally funded music too. It showed bands that there were possible international avenues down the line and even though acts like Rock Machine (Indus Creed) lapped it up big time, there were scores of other smaller acts who started sponsoring themselves and preferred it so. The essential key theme of indie- self-centred promotion- was being understood by more and more musicians.
Today, we have many artists who even release solo projects, and who perhaps also play in rock bands too. A lot of these bands and acts are solely responsible for their own popularity. Spreading awareness any way they can and using their own personal social media platforms to put out, the whole process follows an India vibe. Scribe, Skrat, Sky Rabbit and Bombay Bassment are some bands of late that have adopted this ideology.
Now, with local established platforms that started out Indie, musicians in India no longer have a problem with not being snapped up by major record labels. Internet pages like OKListen and Tune Patrol have helped push local music online. Local platforms including Live From The Console, ennui.BOMB, and Control Alt Delete have been doing some major promotion of music acts through independent funding and sources. This process of promoting the music is inherently indie and has been binding the scene together quite well.
