Why buy bottom up pop

So first Bright Eyes grabs #1 and #2 on Billboard’s singles chart (first time since Puffy in ’97) and then this week I see an article about M.I.A. in my local (Worcester, MA) paper. Anecdotal? Or is independent music starting to break into the mainstream more and more like we said it would?

To refine the point a bit more: Bright Eyes is–and M.I.A. will be– taking advantage of deals with major labels to sell more albums. And some purists look at that as independent musicians selling out. But here’s what it really is: major labels downshifting from monopolists into service providers, from pop culture gatekeepers into a glorified shipping department. And for bulky, innefficient majors, that means one step closer to going out of business.

The major labels still get to drive the CD trucks to the CD stores. But the pop is increasingly coming from the bottom up. M.I.A.’s album Arular drops in the US on March 22. Cop it.

For more reasons, check out the mixtape, the video, and the interview.