Independent productions spread through other media

Many people claim they are fans of indie music.

But they might not know the word’s… Many people claim they are fans of indie music.

But they might not know the word’s significance. An initial examination makes the term ‘indie,’ short for independent, seem a strange title for a music genre. After all, there is no dependent music genre out there, or “dependie” for short.

Indie music is synonymous with artists that write, record and distribute music outside of the “mainstream” music industry. This mainstream industry (which I see no reason to vilify the way some do — everyone loves “Call Me Maybe”) is composed of major record conglomerates that are often more concerned with profits than artistry. Indie music attempts to isolate the most important aspects of music — the creative, artistic act of musical development — without necessarily striving for mainstream success. Although some artists achieve such popularity anyway, their driving commitment to artistic integrity has kept indie music relevant and has even lead to independent creation in other industries.

Indie music took off in the 1980s as a response to the hair metal and glam rock that then dominated the music industry. Fostered by college radio stations across the country, bands such as R.E.M and The Smiths began bringing a new sort of rock music to audiences in both the U.S. and U.K. These bands gained popularity primarily with a younger, university-level audience.

This all changed in the 1990s. “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” the iconic song by popular band Nirvana, brought indie rock — in this case grunge — into mainstream success. Being in an indie group no longer meant a limited audience.

But the idea of generating art or entertainment media independently from the corporate sponsors of mainstream production is not confined to music. Independent films have a long history of success in the U.S. Especially after the creation of the Sundance Institute and its annual film festival, the popularity of indie films exploded.

Many movies that first aired at this festival are now well-established parts of our popular movie culture. “Saw,” “Garden State,” “The Blair Witch Project” and “Clerks” all received attention because of the exposure they garnered at the Sundance Film Festival and eventually went on to mainstream success.

Even though mainstream distribution companies produce some of these movies that are screened at the film festival — most notably Lionsgate, who distributes “Saw” — it is important that these filmmakers seek the approval of an indie community at Sundance.

The video game industry is the newest frontier for independent production. This past decade has witnessed tremendous growth in the video game industry. Mainstream titles such as “Call of Duty” and the “Madden” football series are well-known pieces of popular culture. But indie games such as “Amnesia: The Dark Descent” and “Mount & Blade” have achieved critical acclaim for their artistic value, despite the lack of huge production budgets.

Independent developments in music, film and gaming fill an important role in our culture. Despite achieving mainstream success, indie music has carved a niche into popular culture for those who care about music beyond pop success. Indie films prove that motion picture profits are possible without huge special-effects budgets or ensemble casts, and the independent sphere even extends to video games.

Indie producers continue to remind us that there is still an artistic core to entertainment production.