When Indie Bands Make it Big

Nothing is better than listening to an album whose major singles aren't in heavy rotation local radio station. But when your favorite alternative band suddenly stars getting airplay, does than mean that they are selling out their grassroots or just branching off into more lucrative possibilities?

The question is more complicated than it seems at first glance because there are so many definitions of what success could mean. All connotations imply reaching some sort of goal that is a hallmark of growth. But here is where the argument starts to really become fractured. Being an alternative/indie band gives an aura that they are more than the cookie-cutter pop icons that come around every five minutes. They are in the industry truly for the music and not the fame, which is why they were content with their confined popularity. They play to smaller venues in a limited number of cities. But there always seems to be some sort of cult following to the group, a "play and they will come" effect.

The most recent example of this multifaceted argument is Kings of Leon's current popularity on the Top 40 radio stations. Only By The Night has been on the best-sellers list for months now, with their single "Use Somebody" becoming recognizable by all age groups. But this isn't Kings of Leon first album; neither it is the sophomore effort. If you listen to their single "Charmer" compared to "Use Somebody", there is a substantial difference in the sound. Some fans have begun to question the band's intentions, wondering if they are catering their music to reach more and more people. Others are sticking loyally by the band, arguing that Kings of Leon have never just stuck to one type of sound.

Rather than being proud of how far they have come and mapping their progress, indies become disgruntled that the music that was once so obscure is no longer pure indie anymore. If its good music, it doesn't change just because the number of people that listen to it. If alternative bands can be defined by anything, it is a pure tendency to experiment with sound. That leads some people away and some people towards their music.

Fans that say a band is selling out seem to what to confine the expectations of the group into a box, essentially saying to them can be this popular but no more. It is unrealistic to assume that an indie band is always going to be indie because that is what they set out as in the beginning. People can be harsh on artists because we expect that they have to be poor to be true to their craft. We have the tendency to forget that music is how bands make a living; it is their livelihood, how they pay for their necessities of living. No one should expect a band to be poor their whole life. However, that is not to say that musicians cannot become wrapped up in the frivolities of that particular lifestyle. Musicians are not gods and are undoubtedly susceptible to the downfalls of that way of life. The only thing we can hope for is that bands like Kings of Leon to be of that world but not in it.