The Difference between Indie Rock and Emo Music
Being considered as an art form, music through the decades have undergone a lot of developments which resulted into the formation of the different genres that we know of today. Among the younger generation, Indie Rock and Emo music are two of the most popular music genres, particularly those who are searching for a sound that goes beyond the cookie-cutter pop sounds being played over the radio.
Short for Independent Rock, Indie Rock music are basically composed and produced independently by the bands themselves, unlike most pop music whereby an artist would merely perform a song that was composed and produced by a mainstream recording company. Not only are Indie Rock bands free from the constrictions and limitations usually enforced by these corporations in order to ensure that they perform music that would bring the dollars in. This also allows Indie Rock bands a free-hand in the kind of sound and music that they would perform and offer to the general public. That being said, Indie Rock bands are able to create an identity that is unique to them while being able to tap into their creative side, providing music lovers the opportunity to listen to a sound that goes beyond pop music and other standard genres.
Because of this, it can be quite difficult to determine exactly what type of sound can be considered as Indie Rock. In fact, there appears to be no definite sound that can be pinpointed to help companies categorize a certain band as to whether or not they are an Indie Rock band or not. This is mainly due to the fact that each Indie Rock band would develop their own signature sound, which may not necessarily be heard in other bands within this category. That is why the only basis to help categorize whether or not a band is considered as an Indie Rock band is whether or not they have an agreement with a recording label that they would produce and distribute their music solely under this recording label only.
The independence experienced by Indie Rock bands in their sound, style and identity has led other music genres to eventually develop. One of which is Emo music. To the average music lover, Indie Rock music and Emo music may appear to sound very much the same since both would often use complicated acoustic guitar lines and intricate poetic lyrics. But probing a little bit more deeply, there are a number of differences between the two. For one, Emo bands would often focus on melancholy tunes with lyrics that are poetic and filled with emotions associated with love and loss. Also there is the thing with regards to exclusivity. While there are a number of Emo bands that are independent from most mainstream recording companies, there are actually some bands that fall under this music genre that have a contract with a recording label which stipulates that all of their music will be produced and distributed under only one recording label or company.