I know that indie isn't a genre and I know that when bands get signed to major labels they're not selling out. I know I haven't said as much thus far but the fact of the matter remains that most of the mainstream bands who do hit it big and do start making money stop making the music that brought them there, they change it up to what some exec. tells them too. Take AFI for example, they used to be a hardcore punk band before they signed to a major label and now they make pop/emo/rock music, they started making money and completly changed the way they sound. Now don't get me wrong, money is necessary in that world and I'm not condemning these bands for just trying to feed themselves and their families, I'm saying that if they REALLY care about making music and REALLY care about being true artists then they shouldn't start making music to satisfy the current trend or some high powered jack off at the record label. When they start doing that, THEN they are sellouts, because they chose money over the music. If the band was good enough to be signed then they shouldn't have to change the way they look or the way they sound. I don't listen to indie bands because of spite, I listen to them because to me the music seems real and most mainstream bands do not.

A change in genre does not necessarily constitute the loss of a band's artistic values. Like they say, people change and progress with the current of time. Granted, it is true that several bands succumb to limited creativity in exchange for money and fame, but its not right to make this assumption for all of them.

Regardless of what AFI *used* to be, the main factor I look at is what they are now, and if it even sounds pleasing to my ears. My older brother used to be, and still is, a huge AFI fan ever since they're early days of punk rock. I haven't heard their recent album, but he tells me they sound good even through they sound totally different. To my brother and me, that's all that is important in music; whether you enjoy it or not. If you do not like their new direction in music, you could always listen to their older works (which I frequently do with several bands).

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to defend mainstream music or put down the whole "indie" scene. I just have a firm belief in how you should judge any artist or band's work. Perhaps it is just me, but several indie bands I know locally do not sound "real" to me because they resonate the same echoing sounds from other bands. But I digress, that's just my opinion. I truly applaud you for not listening to mainstream music out of spite, because I know many who use that as a basis of excuse and it makes me sick.