Mainstream& Indie artits- (Relating to Adorno and Horkheimer)

Mainstream Artist

A mainstream artist is an artist that is well known by everyone whether they like their music or not because they are constantly publicised for everyone to see. Mainstream artists are usually from the pop/r&b genre and are not very unique with their style or music as they often fall under the “culture industry” a term created by Adorno and Horkheimer meaning mainstream artists are produced in very similar ways as they are often a commodity. Mainstream music is played on popular radio stations and music channels such as MTV.

An example of a mainstream artist is Justin Bieber, a Canadian pop artist that started in 2008 after being signed to Raymond Braun media group. His success has increased continuously throughout the years due to him being such a popular mainstream artist and growing such a huge fan base. Justin Bieber follows Adorno and Horkheimer’s theory of the culture industry as he is an artist that has been produced by his manager and record label purely to make money from his success as they know due to him being a young good looking teenage boy he would become popular especially to young girls/teens. He is an artist like many others for example One Direction, that has been standardized in order to appeal to wide audience and sell records and merchandise.

Indie artists

Indie artists usually come from independent record labels, they are artists that produce their music independently themselves and are not standardized by record labels or their managers. They are more open to producing music they want to and having their own style unlike Justin Bieber and One Direction who basically get told what to do in order to always remain appealing to their target audience. Indie artists do not follow Adorno and Horkheimers theory of the culture industry as they are much more independent and are produced in different ways then mainstream artists.

An example of an indie artist is Rox who is an English soul singer-song writer. She is signed to Rough trade record label after starting in 2008. Rox is an indie artist as she is signed to a minor record label which operates without the funding of the three major record labels. She does not relate to Adorno and Horkheimers theory of the culture industry as she has not been standardized at all as she is an independent artist that writes her own songs and decides herself what she does and her own style. Rox has not been standardized by Rough trade to become someone to appeal to a particular audience.