There is a dfference between getting the kind of internet exposure, (which is why these bands are able to tour) and getting the kind of wide exposure you still need corporate promotion for. A huge difference, especially monetarily. The landscape is changing (slowly), but that doesn’t mean we cant still bitch about the damage done by companys like clear channel, especially in this country.
I pretty much agree with Martini Enfield. It’s been awhile, but I remember back in Hawaii there was a campus radio station devoted to playing all sorts of indie bands late at night. The deejays were supposedly young hipsters who knew what was cool. I found the stuff generally to be dreck. But then I’m an old fogey and gleefully admit to my “poor” musical taste.
I’m an old fart too…and most campus radio indie crap does suck. But I recognize that none of the bands I listened to back in the 70’s and 80’s would never have made it on the radio if clearchannel had the strangle hold it then that it does now.
Let’s be honest here: The microsecond any of the “Indie” bands people wank on about got any sort of commercial airplay or recognition, they’d be decried as sell-outs by their fans.
More importantly, I truly, honestly do not believe that there are so many genuinely really very good bands languishing in obscurity due to [del]The Man keeping them down[/del] the vagaries of the commercial music industry. Sure, there are probably a couple of very good bands who do deserve wider recognition and aren’t getting it, but on the hole I stand by my beliefs that most of these bands which are allegedly deserving of wider recognition and aren’t getting it are so either by deliberate choice or simply by not being very good (or to many people’s tastes).
You haven’t listened to 99% of the so-called “mainstream” music that’s been released in the last 5 years. So you have no idea what some, perhaps most of this music sounds like. Now, perhaps you didn’t like what you did hear, but not liking it doesn’t make it crap. All it means is you don’t like it.
Subjectively speaking, which is the only way anyone can when talking about music, there has been a lot of really good, some great “mainstream” music released. And just like every other era of popular music, there has been music that ranges from awesome to mediocre.
If you weren’t such a close eared snob, you’d realize that there is lots of great music being made, some of it becomes hugely popular and some remains obscure diamonds.
So clean your fucking ears and spend more time listening and less time being a cranky asshat about how music is classified.