taken from pitchfork: Pitchfork: Indies Launching Compilation Attack on Mainstream?

Indies Launching Compilation Attack on Mainstream?

What was your introduction to indie rock? Think back. Was it seeing the Replacements on "Saturday Night Live"? An R.E.M. video? A band t-shirt Kurt Cobain wore? GardenState? Hearing "Float On" on the radio?


We've all had those turning points in our lives (you probably wouldn't be reading Pitchfork right now if you hadn't!), but what about the next generation? What about those kids out there right now who don't know who Sonic Youth are (gasp!) or don't care about the Arcade Fire(shock!)? Who or what is going to be the gatekeeper for them?


According to Entertainment Weekly and Billboard, a group of independent (and "independent") labels are teaming up to put out a series of compilations aimed at seducing the newbie listener over to our way of life.
EW.com says that the comps will feature the likes of Bloc Party, the Shins, Bright Eyes, Air, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, M. Ward, Ted Leo, Cat Power, Silversun Pickups, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Sonic Youth, and that labels such as Vice, Matador, and Sub Pop will take turns putting out each volume.


However, both Matador and Sub Pop would not confirm their involvement in the series. Vice's label manager Adam Shore was quoted in Entertainment Weekly's article, but told Pitchfork that "those comments went out prematurely and all the information in there is not 100% confirmed."


Said information included Shore saying, "We're partnering with MTV2, and the focus is going to be Wal-Marts, big box stores, red states, and TV advertising-- to really go beyond... We don't really expect indie rock stores to support this record. It's for the casual fan."


MTV acknowledged that they have discussed the possibility of becoming involved in the series, but that nothing had been confirmed yet.
Billboard.com reports that the entire project is being "spearheaded" by the Alternative Distribution Alliance (or ADA, if you're cool), the Warner Music Group-owned company that distributes Vice, Sub Pop, Matador, and countless others. ADA had not responded to questions at the time of this story's publication.


So. Are these compilations actually coming out? Probably. Will they be on Vice, Matador, and Sub Pop? Maybe. Will MTV be involved? Not so sure.
But the most uncertain thing of all? Whether anybody will actually buy the things.

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Do Independent labels still exist? Wow......can you see how excited I'm trying to feel?

Yeah, nothing says "Fuck the mainstream" like selling out to the shittiest of all mjusic stations, MTV. Rock on, you retards. I will never buy a record of any of theirs again if they go through with a fucking MTV-supported indie compilation. How hypocritical can you get? As soon as your record sells at Walmart then you are no longer some obscure independent band, you are popular. You are popular if a million people know of you, even if "only" in the hundreds of thousands. For example, I do not consider Cat Power "indie" at all.
Indie is not a badge of honour.

And is anyone else tired of everything selling under 1 million records being called indie? You're not indie if you're number two on Billboard, for example, and you're not indie if you damned CD sits next to Yoko Ono on the new releases shelf at Sunrise Records. And those bands on sub-labels off of major labels are not anymore indie than Britney Spears. They're just on a sub-label.

Fucking popular "indie" artists can be such hypocrites sometimes.

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