This is my second "forgotten" MySpace blog regarding some menial definition on how relevant the term "underground" is in today's local music scene.
A friend of mine asked me one day, "Is indie the same meaning as underground?" A good question which prompted me to write this blog since nowadays I rarely hear the term "underground" being used instead indie is widely used as the "in" word by those who are involved in these scenes. So, are there any differences between these two words? Is underground irrelevant in the era of MySpace? Has indie replaced underground or does the underground scene still exists?
To answer the first question, I checked out some websites and what I got from Wikipedia was
"Underground music is music which has developed a cult following, independent of commercial success. This music generally speaking has little or no mainstream appeal, visibility or commercial presence."
while this is from *Malaysia Local Act
"...their album and songs only consists 80% of quality...All the songs are produced just to satisfy themselves and a group of their fans only.
These two excerpts give good definitions on the meaning of underground which is clearly understood as music which has a certain type of fans, small fanbase (presumably smaller than independent bands' fans) & most importantly does not have any commercial appeal. However, underground music is actually a subset of indie where it is still a DIY culture but according to *Malaysia Local Act, underground music differs from indie in terms of " ...their songs' quality, quantity of fans, type of gigs they are involved in, type of fans and how they perform on stage."
Consider this: in the 90's where our scene first exploded, the internet is mostly unheard of by people: if you want to go to a gig, you must search and labor for it by asking friends or try to get flyers. However, the advent of MySpace causes the word underground to become vague as more people and fans are now able to get to know these underground bands, listen to their songs and attend any gigs they perform. If your want to know who is Bleeding Mascara or Lord Sunny Day, just type in their name and click the search button! Thus, in the long run, their fanbase would eventually grow and for this situation are they considered underground anymore?
To my final question, I would strongly say that indie has not made underground irrelevant as the underground scene STILL exists. But technology has enabled their music to be heard by a broader set of audience thus making the words "cult following" in the definition null and void. Currently, I can safely say that the word "underground" is loosely used to define bands that are down to the roots of their own music; they play music not to sell albums or garner popularity but they play music for the sake of music.
