Commercial Use of Indie

(I am going to state the obvious here) The assignment is an Indie band poster. 


First question is, what is Indie?


Definitions of Indie music on the Web:

• In popular music, independent music, often shortened to indie music or "indie", is a term used to describe independence from major commercial record labels and an autonomous, Do-It-Yourself approach to recording and publishing.

Yet, the indie is often just considered a style of design and that style is more and more often applied to Top 40 mainstream/major label bands. I only assume it is to elicit a hip and trendy vibe playing along with the current tastes.


FOR EXAMPLE. . .

All of these bands are currently on iTunes Top 10 lists.... and are signed with major music labels. 

(By the definition above, they are not indie.) 

This commercial use of an independent style is a point of contention for me.  Am I designing a music poster in the Indie style (meaning it is not necessarily representing an indie band) or am I designing a poster (of any style) for an independently labeled band, and indie band. Which one could argue that if I am designing for an indie band, it is automatically within the indie style.

I realize I over-thought all of this, but I feel I could not continue this project without addressing this issue.

Indie music is often accompanied with a particular style of design ("Indie design") yet that style of design is not exclusive to Indie music.


So the question is, what exactly is the project?
I  have just made an extensive post about something which I feel is necessary to point out and research but in the end I feel it is best to interpret the project in the spirit with which it was meant. So I will do a poster for an Indie band in the indie style.