gotta say i've never understood this pov, but i know it's a widely held stance in the music community lol

it doesnt really make sense either like nobody has consciously 'went' underground, that side was almost always flourishing

What are we talking about there’s less ground between “indie” whatever you deem that to be & mainstream than ever before, didn’t vernon just collab with TS for a whole album

Aren’t there a multitude of mid white rock ladies prospering right now

I could tell I didn't elaborate on this take enough as I was hitting post.

As soon as something becomes popular the labels/corporations get a hold of it and beat the horse to death.

Its like when you seen a newscaster dab for the 1st time, you knew the dab was dead.

Things in the underground occur a lot more organically, and that is what I love. Of course I would like my underground artists to get compensated for their work, I am workers rights oriented. But I don't see capitalism crumbling unless something drastic and crazy happens.

Do you consider a rapper like Mike "underground" because his videos don't even crack 500k.

Yeah these younger cats use the Tyler method and cultivate a grass roots fanbase, and they get paid better than they did in 2010 in general with vinyl sales and touring and stuff like that. But I would definitely say they are not "popular" like that

i do hear that. i do also think there's so many things that would be missed out on, both for the artists and the consumers, without the Machine. so there are pros and cons like anything else and i've never really bothered to think about which outweighs the other. but i feel you on all that for sure

Very wrong
Pop music is more identity focused than it has been a long time
(White) women have carved their own space in a way that we havent seen in a while

i consider him rap's 'middle class' next to jpegmafia, danny brown, earl, vince. underground (in terms of 'popularity') to me is dudes signed to him. in terms of distribution its anyone not releasing music under label system eg someone like wiki working on his own imprint. and i also put this distribution aspect as more dominant over abstract popularity

damn u reminded me i forgot to listen to that album

Sharon Van Etten just dropped and saved indie so it's relevant again I fear

Indie/Alt has been in the s***ter for a good few years now ngl

get in

ktt2.com/sharon-van-etten-sharon-van-etten-the-attachment-theory-32578852

but also everything is so segmented now and all the different classifications you can put under this umbrella genre are in different statuses and lanes

the CORE though of like new indie rock bands coming out is pretty dead in the water though as it pertains to music with guitars as the focus

and everyone can name all these artists and acts within different subgenres ITT and be like "nah these guys are actually making amazing music rn" but if we look at it in comparison to 10-15 years ago, the stuff that was coming out then blows EVERYTHING happening now in the water

Fair enough point.

I agree, the dudes that are on the grind like that do have better access to distribution. I also think Tyler helped kick down that door.

The labels saw he didn't need them and they wanted in anyways to remain relevant so they compromised. Also the labels don't have to spend as much effort or resources in a distribution deal.

Ngl this is just facebook "my generation was the good music" boomer s***, with a shiny forum face on it

Sorry to break it to you.

in

Are We There fr one of my favorite albums of the 2010s

IndieTT2 will rise!

the chiddy bang epidemic

bon iver hasn’t been materially ie economically indie since 2010. they're/he’s an exception

bar italia, nourished by time, mj lenderman & been stellar are kinda carrying it right now

i genuinely just believe that there has been way less essential releases within this realm and i don't think that's really crazy to say ? 😭

like if i felt this way about hip-hop/rap, i would understand this... but i really do just feel like the tides have turned both creatively and popularity wise

Will have to check out Been Stellar!

idk what you’re listening to but you’re definitely not looking hard enough. if you still prefer music from that time i mean whatever that’s your opinion, but there is definitely fantastic “guitar based” music still consistently coming out.

the real question of this thread for me is the pretty indisputable fact that it’s harder than ever for those acts let alone any underground acts to make anything resembling a livable wage off any of it. the proverbial “middle class” of the industry seems to be disappearing, kinda like the middle class overall