"Selling out vs. selling CDs

It takes guts for indie rock musicians, who are supposed to be above commerce, to say they're doing anything for the money. But there's a difference between making FM-friendly music for the money and selling artistically minded music for money. While Mercer doesn't like talking about it, neither does he regret doing it. Ditto for many of his peers.

"I won't lie - the money, of course, is nice," said Jimmy LaValle of the Album Leaf. "But it's also a way to reach out to a different audience. After 'Grey's Anatomy' had aired 'Writings on the Wall,' the popularity of downloading that song went up dramatically. It was the top-downloaded song off that record, and that happened within two weeks of it being aired."

Sometimes having your music heard is a bigger deal than the money. This is the case with the Oolahs, whose song "Small Parts" was plucked for the "Spider-Man 3" soundtrack.

"I feel that it's not really about the money," said the Oolahs' Ollie Stone. "It's more about getting heard. I don't know what's so wrong with an indie band having their music heard and being spread around."

For the Walkmen, appearing on "The O.C." meant financial security - albeit with a little embarrassment.

"It paid really well, and we, uhh, don't exactly have a lot of bread," said the Walkmen's Hamilton Leithauser. "The record company people were thrilled that we'd be willing to do something that stupid. I guess we caught them by surprise when we said, 'Sure."'

For Rogue Wave, licensing their music to the "Stubbs the Zombie" video game, "The O.C." and films ranging from "Napoleon Dynamite" to

"Spider-Man 3" meant opening doors.

"It really just allowed us to be self-reliant, where we didn't have to open for somebody, to go out and build our own following," said Zach Rogue. "It's not like we were famous."

While music fans are notoriously fickle, indie rock fans celebrate their snobbiness unabashedly. As one blogger snidely wrote upon first hearing Modest Mouse's break-out record: "Indie kids, prepare to share your favorite band." Some fans have reacted negatively to these bands' newfound success.

"Now you're no longer the one kid in science class who knows about Grizzly Bear," said Sub Pop's Hiller. "Now there are three kids in science class who know them. It's that that makes people (angry) that there was an M&Ms commercial or an 'O.C.' spot. Next thing you know, the cheerleaders know about Grizzly Bear."

But this indie rock renaissance is going forward whether the kids like it or not.

"My selfish goal from the start was to expose mainstream audiences to independent music," said the Record Collection's Tappis. "And one of the reasons we chose to go with bands like the Killers and Snow Patrol was to expose them to unsigned bands like Silence on the Radio."" - A quate from this article from the Denver Post [link]

Motherfucking sigh. I suppose im just really selfish... i guess its great that good music has become popular...! But fuck me, when everyone knows and "loves" the band you've been following since the get go, then i think one is entitled to a bit of pissed off'ness