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College Radio Stations: Indie Rock Music, Artists, Bands And Live Radio
By:
Published: May 15, 2007
Watching MTV (when they play music) and listening to the radio, one might wonder where the truly good and revolutionary music has gone. With recent lawsuits by musicians and organizations like the RIAA, a lot of the song trading and Internet radio of the mid-90s has evaporated, which has driven some very good indie rock music even deeper underground than it already was. One of the last bastions for indie rock music is college radio. College radio is under something of a resurgence lately, and indie rock artists with it.
This isn't the first time college radio stations have helped indie rock artists like Michael Stipe and David Byrne gain a foothold with the rest of America. R.E.M. was an unheard of, unheralded commodity until their single "Radio Free Europe" was picked up by college radio stations across the U.S. They quickly went from being one of many solid indie rock bands to being a music phenomena. They aren't the only one; many indie rock bands have come out of the college radio circuit over the past two decades. Recent graduates of the Indie rock music scene include the Strokes, the White Stripes, and The Vines.
With the public largely growing tired of overproduced pop acts, indie rock music is making a huge comeback on local scenes and college radio is helping that to a great extent. Popular college radio stations like KALX in Berkley, Calif., WSUM in Madison, Wis., and WHRB in Cambridge, Mass., are leading the charge in discovering new indie rock bands and indie hip hop acts and dispersing them to the public. It's likely that one of these hundreds of bands will find its first exposure on the more open and unregulated live radio stream of college radio and become a popular mainstream act.
Some college radio stations are even expanding outside the limited range of non-commercial FM bands. WSUM, for example, spent several years developing an Internet stream so that anyone in the world can hear music from the Madison market. Many other college radio stations currently broadcast or are planning to broadcast live radio streams over the Internet, increasing the number of potential ears for indie rock bands to reach exponentially. Whether or not this will expedite the discovery of the next Beatles or not remains to be seen. Yet the new media approach has been warmly received by just about everyone but the RIAA, who is currently fighting to put prohibitive costs on Internet radio broadcasting.
Of course, not all indie rock artists want to become huge acts especially if they feel it compromises their musical integrity. In fact, the fans of many of these artists say that the very move from being independent to signing with a major label ruins the band. However, for some bands the idea of reaching out first to the college audience and using that as a stepping stone to a larger pool of listeners is too good to pass up. College radio is one of the last bastions of live radio that gives its audience a chance to hear something outside of the Billboard charts. College radio offers undiscovered and underappreciated indie rock music its chance to share the same stage as the U2s or Ashlee Simpsons of the world, and in the case of bands like REM and the White Stripes, a chance to truly shine.
Sources:
"Campus Radio." Wikipedia. 13 May 2007. 14 May 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campus_radio.
Indie Rock. Silver Dragon Records. 2003. 14 May 2007. http://www.silver-dragon-records.com/indie_rock.ht m.
Hermes, Will. “Indie Rock's Patron Saint Inspires a New Flock.” New York Times. 14 Jan. 2007. 14 May 2007. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/14/arts/music/14her m.html?ex=1326430800&en=e8c30313b01e3563&e />Peake, Steve. R.E.M.: College Rock Pioneers. About: 80s Music. 2007. About, Inc. 14 May 2007. http://80music.about.com/od/artistsqu/p/remprofile .htm.
This isn't the first time college radio stations have helped indie rock artists like Michael Stipe and David Byrne gain a foothold with the rest of America. R.E.M. was an unheard of, unheralded commodity until their single "Radio Free Europe" was picked up by college radio stations across the U.S. They quickly went from being one of many solid indie rock bands to being a music phenomena. They aren't the only one; many indie rock bands have come out of the college radio circuit over the past two decades. Recent graduates of the Indie rock music scene include the Strokes, the White Stripes, and The Vines.
With the public largely growing tired of overproduced pop acts, indie rock music is making a huge comeback on local scenes and college radio is helping that to a great extent. Popular college radio stations like KALX in Berkley, Calif., WSUM in Madison, Wis., and WHRB in Cambridge, Mass., are leading the charge in discovering new indie rock bands and indie hip hop acts and dispersing them to the public. It's likely that one of these hundreds of bands will find its first exposure on the more open and unregulated live radio stream of college radio and become a popular mainstream act.
Some college radio stations are even expanding outside the limited range of non-commercial FM bands. WSUM, for example, spent several years developing an Internet stream so that anyone in the world can hear music from the Madison market. Many other college radio stations currently broadcast or are planning to broadcast live radio streams over the Internet, increasing the number of potential ears for indie rock bands to reach exponentially. Whether or not this will expedite the discovery of the next Beatles or not remains to be seen. Yet the new media approach has been warmly received by just about everyone but the RIAA, who is currently fighting to put prohibitive costs on Internet radio broadcasting.
Of course, not all indie rock artists want to become huge acts especially if they feel it compromises their musical integrity. In fact, the fans of many of these artists say that the very move from being independent to signing with a major label ruins the band. However, for some bands the idea of reaching out first to the college audience and using that as a stepping stone to a larger pool of listeners is too good to pass up. College radio is one of the last bastions of live radio that gives its audience a chance to hear something outside of the Billboard charts. College radio offers undiscovered and underappreciated indie rock music its chance to share the same stage as the U2s or Ashlee Simpsons of the world, and in the case of bands like REM and the White Stripes, a chance to truly shine.
Sources:
"Campus Radio." Wikipedia. 13 May 2007. 14 May 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campus_radio.
Indie Rock. Silver Dragon Records. 2003. 14 May 2007. http://www.silver-dragon-records.com/indie_rock.ht m.
Hermes, Will. “Indie Rock's Patron Saint Inspires a New Flock.” New York Times. 14 Jan. 2007. 14 May 2007. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/14/arts/music/14her m.html?ex=1326430800&en=e8c30313b01e3563&e />Peake, Steve. R.E.M.: College Rock Pioneers. About: 80s Music. 2007. About, Inc. 14 May 2007. http://80music.about.com/od/artistsqu/p/remprofile .htm.
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