What is “Indie” music? How do we define the genre? In the 90’s people would argue that they liked Alanis Morisette “before she was cool” - inferring that her (then)newfound popularity made her no longer an “indie” talent. Remember watching a music award show on your old wooden TV set, and feeling confused as the band U2 won “Best Pop Album” of the year. U2 is Pop??? Oh wait Pop stands for Popular music. Sure, we guess the album was pretty popular that year.

In essence, Indie or independent music used to mean songs by artists who were not attached to a large record label. Over time, even that changed as we saw indie artists who have amassed massive fan following the world over sign to large labels but retaining their offbeat sounds - leading to that signature sound being labelled as part of the “indie” genre. Basically, the term is a debatable one and true music aficionados will present valid arguments both for and against, depending on their interpretation of it.

India, a country obsessed with Bollywood and cricket, had considered indie music to be “anything that is not Bollywood”; Maybe because Bollywood music was our equivalent to music label giants in India. But here again, artists like Nucleya, who started out as “indie” are now considered too mainstream to be called so anymore. I mention Nucleya because he is proof, a shining example that there is now more scope and potential for growth for indie artists in India.

Over the last decade, India has seen a significant growth in independent music of all languages, both mainstream and regional. Bands like Avial burst onto the rock scene, DJs like Oceantied mesmerise us with their beats, and crooners like Anisha AOD, pen poetic originals like Stand There With You or You Don’t Know to a growingly receptive Indian audience. This goes to show that India is ready for new, local, original music and is open to discovering home-grown contemporary artists. But have these artists been here all along? If so, why are they only gaining popularity now? The answer is simple - accessibility.

The internet boom, growth of social media, the need for new content, fresh music and, most importantly, access to “music-making” technology has been crucial in the growth of the indie music scene the world over. Software like GarageBand, Audacity and DarkWave Studio coupled with apps and platforms like Facebook, iTunes, Vine and YouTube have given birth to a whole new population of indie artists ready to showcase their studio-quality tunes to the world at the touch of a button.

More creation of content called for more avenues to showcase that content, aside from just social media. Live bands and performances started becoming more accepted across the country- and not just that odd sax player replicating Kenny G as you ate your meal- but full fledged performances by artists for their fans with venues dedicated entirely to music. Hard Rock Cafe, Blue Frog, The Humming Tree have all become hubs of the Indian music scene, showcasing indie artists more than ever before. Having venues dedicated to musical talent and promoting live gigs has opened up artists to a whole new audience, and vice versa. The live gig scene has become so popular that many corporates have also seen the benefit of cashing in, heavily investing in music festivals and, in turn, creating more revenue streams for indie artists.

With all these factors coming into play over the past decade, it’s safe to say that the Indian indie music scene is perfectly poised for a huge launch in the right direction, propelling artists like Anisha AOD, Easy Wanderlings and Oceantied into the limelight like never before.

By Verus Ferreira