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Factory Records

How Musicians are Fundraising for Ukraine, and Proving That Music is Humanism.

Posted on 11 March 2022

Tragedy has a habit of letting everything pleasurable and meaningful fall into a pit of futility. When that is conflated with the virtue signalling/shaming spat at influencers and artists for carrying on with their projects, it is no surprise that there are many questioning the appropriateness of how we are conducting our lives online and offline.

It was only a couple of years ago when we were furious that the UK government tried to tell ballerinas to retrain in IT; when the Sunday Times published a poll that dubbed artists as non-essential. Then, we fiercely defended the importance of art, music, and every other form of media that gives us a brief reprieve from the misery of a late-stage capitalist world.

Sure, a few dystopic years have slipped by since, and the return of live music wasn’t quite as triumphant due to the cultural shifts that happened when we realigned our lives in the absence of the live music scenes. Just as artists were starting to pick up momentum, the value of music has once again in question, and I get it, I do. But if every time senseless tragedy struck and artists downed tools, the airwaves would be eternaly radio silent.

As for those thinking that it’s disrespectful to carry on with music in a time like this, you’re hardly bringing a clown to a funeral by keeping the cogs in the meaning-making machines that you are turning. Ever since the renaissance, music has been regarded as a humanism; that sentiment resonates just as strongly today. A few things have changed since, including artists’ ability to use their expansive platforms to do more than sell their new releases. Here are just a few ways artists and industry figures are stepping up in solidarity with Ukraine.

– On Bandcamp Friday (March 4th), artists from across the globe donated their profits from sales to Ukraine, and many more are continuing to donate their income via digital sales to Ukrainian charities for a limited time, including indie post-punk’s most enamouring baroque debonair, James Cook and the UK grunge earworm-makers, The Dying Lights.

– At 72 years old, Alan Erasmus (Factory Records) headed to Lviv to provide humanitarian support. He has also started a fundraiser for the Legacy of War Foundation, which is raising money to support the future of children in Ukraine. The Guitarist from the Polish death metal band, Decapitated and Machine Head crossed the border to provide humanitarian aid.

– The revered UK punk outfit, Vice Squad, has already raised over £2,410 for Ukrainian animal rescue efforts, and their fundraiser will be running until the end of the month. To be a part of it, purchase their new EP, Humane.

– The Russian punk powerhouse, Pussy Riot, has raised over $6.7 million by selling an NFT of the Ukrainian flag, and all the proceeds will make their way to the Ukrainian armed forces.

– The death metal band Behemoth, the Irish thrash metal outfit Gama Bomb, and the Shoegaze legends Slowdive are all releasing exclusive merch and donating the proceeds to charity.

– There have been countless live and livestreamed gigs from across the globe, probably most notably, the event at the Roundhouse in London, which saw Franz Ferdinand, Bob Geldof, and Chrissie Hynde perform. All of the proceeds went to the DEC.

On March 7th, the Disasters Committee (DEC) raised over £100m in four days. That may be a drop in the ocean considering how many people’s lives are now rubble, but the solidarity and benevolent entrepreneurship has restored my faith in humanity more than one punitive man with a stockpile of nukes could ever dent it.

A&R Factory has also donated to the Disasters Emergency Committee, and we will continue to champion artists using the power of their influence in this surreally existential time.

Amelia Vandergast

How to Define Indie Music?

Posted on 29 November 2021

There are no short answers when it comes to the definition of indie music. While some use indie to describe where artists of all genres are at in the industry, it has also become synonymous with an edgy guitar-based pop sound over the years.

Today, indie is an extension of the music that the indie pioneers created when they started to break away from the big four record labels (EMI, Warner, Universal and Sony). To definitively understand the definition of indie music, we have to get to grips with how it came around and became a descriptor for a particular off-kilter sonic style

A Micro History of Indie

The indie uprising started in the 1970s – although the roots of independent music go back to the soul, blues and Motown independent labels in the 50s. In the 70s, distinctions arose between artists on major record labels and artists independent of them.

The new wave, post-punk and alternative music releases in the late 70s started to fall under the indie category while picking up traction amongst music fans eager to hear music that was far more visceral, real and experimental. This new aural hunger led to Tony Wilson creating a roster at Factory Records, Daniel Miller establishing Mute and Chris Parry following suit with his label, Fiction, in 1978.

The Manchester-based outfit, The Smiths, were a pivotal part of UK Indie history; once they were on the Rough Trade roster in the mid-80s, they created a cultural movement with their politically aware, socially conscious and poetically morose lyrics. The Smiths inspired countless acts keen to emanate the jangle-pop guitars and the hooky despite the melancholy energy. Just a few of the indie acts that are under the influence of the Smiths are Blur, Pulp, The XX, Frightened Rabbit and The Killers.

Indie started to manifest in the industry in plenty of other ways from the 80s onwards, from indie dance to indie folk to indie hip hop, swathes of artists started to adopt the DIY ethos after watching the success of indie pioneers, such as Joy Division and Depeche Mode. Although indie artists are experimental as a default, the genre amassed characteristics over the years, such as bands having a cultural identity, almost existentialist mentality and being heavier than pop but lighter than rock.

The indie acts springing up under Sub Pop in Seattle in the 80s were far noisier and more discordant than UK indie acts. The independent label, Sub Pop, signed Soundgarden, Mudhoney and Sonic Youth and gave way to the grunge era that defined the 90s in America.

Technically, when independent artists, such as REM and Nirvana, signed multi-million-dollar record deals with major labels, they should have lost their indie status. Instead, their indie status remained for the culture that all of the indie bands since the 70s collectively created.

Today, indie music isn’t *quite* as popular as it was when it peaked in the 90s, but there are still thriving independent grassroots music scenes all across the UK and across the globe. In 2021, independent artists can take advantage of countless indie music blogs, indie playlists, indie radio stations and indie magazines to grow their fanbases away from major labels.