Mainstream and indie artists

15/09/14 

Mainstream artist is an artist that is famous and known by everyone whether they are a fan of their music or not this is because they are publicised constantly. They usually make music under the genres of either Pop or R&B and therefore have a same style and follow the idea of 'culture industry' as they don't have their own style or uniqueness. Music by these artists are played on many radio stations and music channels like Kiss FM, MTV and Capital FM.

                                        

An Mainstream artist example would be the band One Direction. They are an English Pop boy band that's started their music career in the year 2010. After being formed in 'The X Factor' they were signed on by record label Syco Records with Simon Cowell. The Boy band have become so popular and successful due to following the idea of mainstream and therefore growing a strong fan base. The band accept the theory by Adorno and Horkeimer of the culture industry as they are a band that have been created by Simon Cowell purely to make profit from their success due to the group being attractive to the young teenage girls.

            

Indie artists(independent) usually get signed by independent record labels. They are artists that are not standardised by any record labels and create music and themselves independently. They open to producing their own music and generally have their own unique style. They go against the theory of the culture industry due to the fact of them being independent.

An indie artist example would be Jason Collett who is a Canadian singer-songwriter. He started his music career in 1999 and is currently signed by Arts and Craft record label. Arts and Crafts productions are a record company that are independent in the fact that they focus on music and talent more than just profit. Collett is against the culture industry theory as he writes his own songs and sings them with his own style in an independent manner.