What do you consider mainstream?

[tomace]

What do you consider mainstream?

I've been asking people for a while now. What you do think?

Is it when a band starts taking direction from their record company?

Is it when they sell a million albums?

Is it when the public knows a bands name, but doesn't know why or where they heard of them?

[david]

This is a fascinating topic ... I was hoping there would be more discussion about it before now.

Seems to me, mainstream is the original music industry standard of when a band gets signed by any relatively large record label. Today it's just not as much of a requirement since it is easier and easier to "self publish". The large labels aren't quite as large as they used to be, but they still have massive influence, not to mention promotional and marketing budgets for their bands.

[tokenuser]

Originally Posted by TomAce

What do you consider mainstream?

Mainstream? I would have previously said public recognition via radio. As a child of the MTV generation where the M stood Music and not "mediocre reality TV", mainstream was what happened when you saw a video from a band you liked.

That model has changed a lot now with MP3 players. In the car I pretty much only listen to NPR over the radio now (I am not redneck enough for the "country" station, not "black" enough for the rap/hiphop station, and not "conservative rightwingnutjob" enough for the local "christian" station). If I am listening to music, it is off a CD or my iPod ...

This actually poses a challenge. If people aren't listening to the radio as much a they used to, how can a band go "mainstream"? I go turned onto The Gourds and Hayseed Dixie (crap ... perhaps I AM redneck enough for the country station) through a podcast I listen to (www.coverville.com)), and I know that with online services like Pandora or Last.FM you can discover new music.

Does mainstream mean signing by a record label with distribution through big box stores or (shudder) WalMart or Target? Is mainstream promotionon iTunes?

With distribution models changing, I think the only way to define Mainstream is by defining its opposite - Indie. By knowing what Indie is, everything else by default must be Mainstream.

[super_dog_87]

I can say no mainstream is playing underground shows... Kinda like VFW's or American Legion and other shows similar. Bands that are not signed to a major record deal. Bands that are not in the top 200. That would be some of what I think.... It's hard to define though...

[tomace]

Hey all, Just got back from the start of Warped Tour. Thanks to the fans for stopping to say hi! NotMTV filmed 28 bands this weekend at Warped so get ready!

Previously........on 24...I mean NotMTV, We were going to interview Anberlin, by the request of two REV3 members(muffins and Kwok_talk). When another member had a fair comment and thought Anberlin was mainstream. I thought, shit, with all the independent muisc, the "What is Mainstream?" line is becoming blurred. For one reason or another (our request was denied) we didn't interview Anberlin.

BUT...this week at Warped Tour, I met up with the lead man of Anberlin, Stephen Christian, and I told him the story I described above and about the Rev 3 fan request. Stephen got energized and answered the question a bunch of ways...kind of bringing this all full circle.

Does Anberlin consider themselves Mainstream? What do they consider Mainstream?

We're dropping a tease for the Warped tour episodes coming up over the summer. Anberlin has a good bite to check out. It'll be on the Homepage of NotMTV by 4:20 today...Next week for the NotMTV episode here on Rev3, we'll release the full Anberlin interview and hopefuly some live footage we shot at Warped.(trying to get it licensed.) Other interviews and performances also...

Yeaaaaahhhh! -tom

[esophagus]

I say it is all about their outlook on music. If a band sings one type of music, and they begin to tweek it to what sells better, they're being mainstream. Or if a band notices they are selling more records and begin promoting like crazy, and trying to get airred on MTv or channels like it. Example: Fallout Boy. I've never been a fan, but that doesn't matter. They were well liked in a local circle, and began making a break into the emo indy scene. They milked this, signed with a major label, and went on to sell millions.

Even better example, Against Me!. They completely screwed over everyone at Plan-It-X in favor of commercial success, and have lost touch with all of their roots.