Hmmm... I can't decide how I feel about this. I agree with everything you've said, Buzz, but I guess if it gets the artists more exposure that they want, good for them. But I find that most indie fans prefer full albums to compilations.

For example, the people I know who like Top 40 music buy individual songs from iTunes (usually the singles), while the indie fans devour whole albums. So I doubt a mass-market indie comp will be that successful. But then again, what do I know?

i love indie rock but i hate bands that sell out once they go mainstream. underground music is so much better than some of the crap out there that Ryan seacrest throws on American Top40

I don't know enought about Indie. I am mostly into Christian music though so It probably would not thirll me.

I think the phrase "Mass Market Indie CD" is an oxymoron in itself. Then again, the world of "indie" is slowly dying with the internet and other mainstream medias. How can any band that blasts it's stuff on Myspace call themselves "indie" when their stuff is playing in one of the most mainstream ways I can think of?

that would be pretty cool..but i agree everyone above..
Whts annoying is that I showed a friend Panic!at the discos music before they were all famous. She hated it..Now that its on the radio and her friends like it..she really likes it.Blah i have a feeling that would proubly happen..
also. i reallyyyyyy i hate when a really good band goes on the radio and its over played. Then your sick of the band lol

does making a mass market indie CD not defeat the purpose of an indie (INDEPENDENT) band? this is just wrong.

"I showed a friend Panic!at the discos music before they were all famous. She hated it..Now that its on the radio and her friends like it..she really likes it.Blah i have a feeling that would proubly happen..
also. i reallyyyyyy i hate when a really good band goes on the radio and its over played. Then your sick of the band lol"

gigglesss
i completely agree with you people dont understand that there are better music out there than just what's on the billboard charts. and i know what u mean when people dont even give indie music a chance just cuz nobody knows it or are familiar with the band. i loved the fray before they became "THE FRAY" and now that they're famous i cannot stand them! lol..i dont think they're sell outs though, but the overplayed songs of theirs made me sick of them. and yeah i also agree with you when people only like bands cuz they're a hot band now. but if nobody else liked them, then they wouldnt like it.

ridiculous. when did "indie" become a genre.

when did ryan seacrest became the guru of all things music.

I think the concept is awesome, I just wish it was being put out by another company. A good majority of the music I'm into is independent artists (although I don't know if it would qualify as "indie") and exposure like this would be awesome. I don't know how it'll go over, but here's hoping some really talented artists (Like the Hold Steady) get something good from it!

it's a good idea but it's gonna bomb. i can feel it.

what i want to know is: what do people consider indie? just about everyone knows who Feist is, for instance - yet she is on a pretty small label, does summer festivals a lot, has concerts in smaller venues and generally exhibits an "indie" vibe. i think indie in a lot of ways has come to describe what used to be called "alternative" rather than truly meaning independent in terms of their record label (if they have one) or similar. Can you be indie and be hip-hop for instance? just wondering how people feel about all this. neko case has tons of albums out plus the new pornographers stuff but i for sure still think of her as indie...small clubs/venues, quite grounded etc. buzz, i think this is such an interesting question! i think this compilation is crazy. does anyone even buy CDs anymore?

Indie doesn't mean anything anymore. I guess this was inevitable.

I find it positively amusing.

well, the music genre was labeled 'indie' for a reason. Mass Market and Indie just don't go together.

Honestly, my bf is a professional musician and for bands that need the exposure and money, this is amazing. Being a musician is really hard. As long as they don't censor/ change the music, perhaps it will bring BETTER music to the forefront. Of course, indie will never sell as well as the classic 3-minute Ashlee Simpson pop song, so I doubt this would have much impact anyway. Good music just isn't for the masses anymore.

...and indie doesn't necessarily mean "good" automatically, either. Like Panic at the Disco might be considered "indie", but they are absolutely terrible musicians and their music is derivative as all get out, basically piggybacking off tons of great emo bands from the 90s. Of course, they're all still teenagers too.

...yeah..

um this is why i only listen to classic rock or indie
i find nothing special of todays music anymore, its all the same, or their posers (like good charlotte)

maybe the occasional artist like robin thicke, or whatever i'll like.

How does one put together something like this anyways? Seems to go against what Indie means....

I like finding new bands I like that aren't all over the radio. A few years ago I became a hardcore Metric fan and I couldn't find anyone to go to their concert with me. Then they were all over the radio and tv and all of a sudden everyone who didn't like them when I played them loved them now. I am happy for the band, but frustrated with how some people need bands to be a commercial success before they jump on the bandwagon.

Don't mass market indie.

It's giving indie a bad name!!

I think tdamji posted a great question. While I've always thought of "indie" as identifying an artist as not being signed w/ a large (or even medium-ish) lable, I don't really know where I got this def. of "indie" from. Whose to say using it to describe a genre is wrong?

Also, in my long opinion: I try to never correlate (positively OR negatively) the quality of someone's music w/ their success. While many of my fave songs, groups, and individual musicians are not played on commercial radio, lots of my all-time favorites are extremely famous and successful. (Has ANYONE not heard of Bob Dylan, the Beatles, the Clash, or David Bowie?) This distinction has been pretty useful in the past couple of years as musicians that I've liked for a while, like the New Pornographers and Sufjan Stephens, gain more and more mainstream recognition.
It's good that I don't have to give up Sufjan just because of Little Miss Sunshine!

The thing about this is.... I really like some what I guess you could call "indie" artists, but I don't necessarily want to buy the whole albums. I was only introduced to indie music through iTunes recommendations (you know, you bought this, you will probably like this.) For someone who doesn't have a ton of money, like teenagers, this is actually a good idea. I don't think I would buy it though.

The thing about this is.... I really like some what I guess you could call "indie" artists, but I don't necessarily want to buy the whole albums. I was only introduced to indie music through iTunes recommendations (you know, you bought this, you will probably like this.) For someone who doesn't have a ton of money, like teenagers, this is actually a good idea. I don't think I would buy it though.

The thing about this is.... I really like some what I guess you could call "indie" artists, but I don't necessarily want to buy the whole albums. I was only introduced to indie music through iTunes recommendations (you know, you bought this, you will probably like this.) For someone who doesn't have a ton of money, like teenagers, this is actually a good idea. I don't think I would buy it though.

Whoa... why did it post three comments?

this isn't really indie, then. this is "indie" bands selling out so that they can be heard in the mass-market.

Well if it introduces new music to people why be against it? Some of the songs are great, some people just didn't know it was out there. So what if it takes a biggest hit album to introduce them to it. Let's just be happy that they found something new to like and love and listen to. Who care how they came across it!

Well if it introduces new music to people why be against it? Some of the songs are great, some people just didn't know it was out there. So what if it takes a biggest hit album to introduce them to it. Let's just be happy that they found something new to like and love and listen to. Who care how they came across it!

Well if it introduces new music to people why be against it? Some of the songs are great, some people just didn't know it was out there. So what if it takes a biggest hit album to introduce them to it. Let's just be happy that they found something new to like and love and listen to. Who care how they came across it!