I want to offer a few thoughts on this wonderful gathering, though I do have a confession to make. When I started to think about some of the indie music festivals and concerts across the country, it was easy to believe that a “happening” city such as San Diego had a festival that had been running for many years, if not decades.

But as I have discovered, this beautiful city has enjoyed the indie fest just four times. That’s right; the San Diego Indie Fest began in 2005 and will mark its fifth year in 2009. I was a bit surprised by that. I don’t have time or room enough to explain why.

Let the people responsible speak. “The San Diego Indie Music Festival is the brainchild of Alicia Champion, president and founder of Champ Records, and Danielle Lo Presti, president and founder of Say It Records.”

Or, how about these words from a local observer of the scene. “With little down time between acts, its unique setting, and that impressive talent lineup, this festival looks to be one of the premiere indie music events on San Diego’s annual musical calendar, and shouldn’t be missed by any music fan.” Bart Mendoza, San Diego Citybeat.

As with another festival from the west coast, Pickathon, in Oregon, the San Diego gathering may be one that calls for a road trip!

San Diego Indie Fest on MySpace

Tags: music, independent music, indie music, san diego indie fest, indie

Ok, so I don’t know anything about this fellow, other than what is available online. Unfortunately, that’s not much. He is, apparently, a “creative account manager” or, as they were called in the old days, an agent.

I hit upon his name when I read a blog connected with the Glastonbury Festival held in Pilton, Somerset (southwest England). This festival features a variety of music, from rock, alternative rock and indie rock to hip-hop, reggae and electronic.

Runewitsch is spreading the word about some of the projects he is working on or interested in and making an effort to hook up with like-minded folks. The crowd at Glastonbury seems as if it would be a ripe proving ground for a budding creative account manager.

According to his information, a project called Hidden Depths is attracting such indie and alternative names as “Warp records, Dj Yoda, Luke Vibert, Jarvis Cocker, Arctic Monkeys.” The focus seems to be on small venues, one of which was Soho Revue Bar. (The Propellerheads showed their stuff their.)

The Glastonbury was the scene of some serious Liverpool-area work. Some of the reviewers thought The Wombats were one of the best attractions at the 2008 festival, which attracted 170,000 people by some reports. There were some “bigger” names there, such as The Verve. It would only make sense that Runewitsch would try to hook up with some of the managers, acts and listeners at the Glastonbury. Maybe he’ll become one of those established “creative account managers” that really does something good for the up-and-coming.

Tags: rupert runewitsch, music, indie music, indie, independent music

I ran across a comment recently that called “indie” a genre, which to me means it is a type of music.

While I am sympathetic to the idea behind this, I’m not sure how far I can go with putting “indie” under the genre heading along with jazz, blues, rock, classical, etc.

The word “genre” comes from the French language, by way of Old French and Latin. To put the definition quite simply, genre means “a kind.” That is, genre is a kind of music. The dictionary definition of “genre” is this: a class or category of artistic endeavor having a particular form, content, technique, or the like (dictionary.com).

So, is “indie” a kind of music? Not if you judge by the numerous kinds or styles that have the word “indie” in their marketing, MySpace or public relations information. Bands from genres as varied as folk, rock, ambient and industrial, to name a few, consider themselves firmly entrenched in the indie camp. Could you take all of these various kinds of music and put them under one umbrella, then place them alongside the traditional genres, or the accepted genres? I don’t know the answer.

So, is indie music a class or category of artistic endeavor? The debate will continue, along with the battle of terminology that makes some music “alternative” and other music not an alternative to anything.

Tags: genre, music, independent music, indie music, indie

First and foremost, it’s the World Wide Web!!!!

Over the past couple of decades, we have heard politicians cry out, “It’s the economy, stupid!” They claim to have our best interests in mind. (Yea, right!!!)

My cry would be, “It’s the Web, baby!!!” Why? A simple search for information on independent music turns up more than 6 million places to look for such goodies. In the interest of true research, I went not to the first three or four sites on the first page of the search engine, but to page 5, page 10, page 15, page 20. Lo and behold, there is good stuff even that deep in the pile.

For instance, I came upon some print and online magazines that do a credible job of interviewing individuals in the music industry who are not billboard beauties or rock pretenders. These publications, electronic and otherwise, focus on the poets and musicians, you know, those men and women who really feel something and can tell the street people what it’s like. (And the street folks believe it ‘cause it’s true.)

So, in digging down into the search engine I discovered an old friend, creativecommons.org. I like this definition from their site: Creative Commons defines the spectrum of possibilities between full copyright — all rights reserved — and the public domain — no rights reserved. Our licenses help you keep your copyright while inviting certain uses of your work — a “some rights reserved” copyright.

I even read a blog there that asked where the music slump was. The point being that the big guys (bean counters etc.) aren’t making enough (greed) while the independent music scene is exploding with great music and truth.

Told you creativecommons.org was a good site.

Talking on the Web on MySpace

Tags: music, indie music, talking on the web, independent music, indie

No, this is not the name of some relatively unknown band or artist. It’s a reference to Radio 1190, KVCU in Boulder (University of Colorado). Some claim that the best music, independent or otherwise, is on the AM dial, on this station.

While this seems a bit of a stretch, the folks there must be doing something right, because the station celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. This writer grew up on rock-and-roll tunes coming out of a small radio tuned to an AM station. In the early 1960s, around St. Louis, Missouri, that station was KXOK, AM 630. Johnny Rabbit was the on-air personality.

So I guess it’s not a real stretch to expect AM radio to put out some good tunes still. Many of the regular visitors to these independent music pages will get a mild thrill from visiting www.radio1190.org, and checking out just what some good minds can do.

For example, the Web site’s CD of the Month for September is the full length debut by the Kasai Allstars entitled “In the 7th Moon, the Chief Turned into a Swimming Fish and Ate the Head of His Enemy by Magic.” I like the sound of that!

Various judges and comparison have named 1190 KVCU the best radio station around. Others have dubbed it the best “new music” radio station. In either case, it might be worth checking into.

Independent Air on MySpace

Tags: music, independent music, indie music, independent air, indie