According to the published forum article "The Origin of Taiwan Independent Music" with acclaimed music critic Ma Shi-fong (馬世芳) from "The Origin of Taiwan Independent Music" (He, 2010), Taiwan independent music originated with
"underground music" in 1980's.
The lift of Taiwan's Martial Law (戒嚴令) in 1987 introduced a new era of media proliferation. Before that, only three main TV stations and two newspapers were allowed to operate. Anything art work released outside the gridlock of these five outlets were considered "underground." Rock bands such as Red Ants (紅螞蟻) and Youth Band (青年樂團) were trailblazers who wrote and sang their own songs and released the albums independently. In the 80’s, any work released outside these mainstream sanctioned outlets had the mysterious, dangerous and forbidden aura and hence the term “underground.”
The birth of digital music production in the late 1980's caused album production cost to drop drastically and allowed more aspirants to produce music.The rising of the opposition party Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) (民進黨) and the rise of Taiwan identity awareness and the Taiwanese dialect (台語) served as the political and social backdrop of Taiwan's indie music birth. The burgeoning democratic movement and the anti-establishment ethos in indie bands music fed on one another and led to cross pollination.
The album "Go Nuts Song" (抓狂歌) by the group Blacklist Workshop (黑名單 工作室) and the debut album "Joyous Anal-Retentive" (肛門樂慾期作品集) by social protest band LTK Commune (濁水溪公社) in 1989 marked as early examples of Taiwan's independent music.
Rock group Lutang (亂彈) won the Golden Melody Awards for Best Group for its debut album “Hope” (希望) in 1998. When the vocalist Chen Tai-hsiang (陳泰翔) went up the stage to accept the award, he proudly proclaimed that “Taiwan’s band era has arrived.”
However, what happened later was the proliferation of indie music only rather than commercial success of indie music. As Ma puts it (He, 2010), Mayday (五月天) and Sodagreen (蘇打綠) are the only two Taiwan bands that have enjoyed mainstream label endorsement and commercial success.
According to book Echo of the Time (時代迴音) edited by Li Ming-tsun (2015), only a handful of independent music acts achieved commercial success or mainstream recognition. These crossover acts include Mayday (五月天), Cheer Chen (陳綺貞), Sodagreen (蘇打綠) and Deserts Xuan (張懸). Despite these acts taking indie music into the mainstream market, it also means that the majority of indie musicians have stayed with niche audiences who have discerning taste.
In Jien Miao-ru’s essay “The Production Politics of Taiwan Independent Music”
(台灣獨立音樂的生產政治) (2013), she points out that the terms evolution of each era’s popular music implies the changing nature of the music production politics. One can see the current wave of indie bands as the descendant of the folk
singer/songwriter during the campus folk song era (校園民歌) in the 1970s. The
name of each era’s popular music evolved from “popular music” (熱門音樂) in the 1980s, to underground/non-mainstream-alternative rock (地下音樂/非主流/另類搖 滾) in the 1990s, then to band era/indie music/indie band (樂團時代/獨立音樂/獨立 樂團) in the 2000s, then to indie label/DIY indie label (獨立廠牌/DIY 獨立廠牌) since 2007. With the term “indie music” since 2000s, its principles include pursuing creative freedom, not manipulated commercially, produced DIY and self-released.
2.1.2 Definition, Production Process, Creative Principle
According to music critic Ma Shi-fong (馬世芳) in the published forum article
"The Origin of Taiwan Independent Music" (He, 2010), Taiwan independent music can be defined by factors including distribution, creative and production process, and creative principle.
Distribution wise, Taiwan indie music is characterized by independently released music albums that rely on college radio and niche audience publications to promote to the niche audiences. Often, some indie singers or bands with certain level of
recognition in the commercial market are able to cement deal for mainstream labels to distribute their independently produced albums on the national sales network.
However, these indie albums lack the backing of the lavish music videos and TV commercial spots from mainstream music label.
In terms of creative and production process, Taiwan's independent music is characterized by singer-songwriters and bands who perform their self-penned songs.
In contrast, mainstream commercial singers mostly release albums with songs penned
by other professional songwriters and executed by brand name album producers.
However, what truly marks "independent music" is originality in terms of music making. Taiwan indie music usually refers to independently produced music that focus on original musicality rather than catering to the audience or market demand.
Indie music is characterized by more sincere, heart-felt, labor-of-passion music rather than the mostly tear-jerking commercial ballads produced by mainstream labels.
As Ryan Hibbett states in “What Is Indie Rock?” (2005), the simplest definition of indie music refers to music not produced by a major international music label (AOL Time Warner, Universal, Sony Music, BMG, EMI) or one of its affiliates.
However, indie rock can also be an esthetic genre, a tool of social differentiation and a means of marketing. Using Pierre Bourdieu's concept of “cultural capital,” Hibbett draws a parallel between indie rock and high art, both of which build its brand value through niche audience and therefore lack of mass audience. It requires specialized knowledge from the audience to fully appreciate the art form.
However, in actual practice, each indie singer positions himself as “indie”
artist according to his individual motive and purpose. Some indie singers declare they want to release the music they enjoy themselves independently because they realize their particular sound would not fit into the commercial market. Some indie singers brand them as “indie” currently only because they haven’t reached mainstream recognition. Acclaimed indie singer such as Deserts Xuan (張懸) is signed by Sony Music and has reached mainstream recognition but she continues to insist her music is
“indie” in spirit. The term “independent music” is in fact an umbrella term that encompasses music artists of various methods and principles. There is rarely an indie
singer who fits all four factors cited by critic Ma as what define “indie music.” What qualifies as "independent" sways with each era and each artist. As a result, I will analyze my research data according how the singer chooses to define himself as
“independent.”