Indie Music Video Conventions

Indie is short for Independent Music, this also defines the premise of Indie which is music that is written, recorded, produced and marketed by the artist themselves and not a major commercial record label that controls the artist under contract.

A large part of Indie culture is the choice of not following mainstream conformity and this is shown in their music videos. Indie videos are often performance and narrative based, however the genre is most popular for its concept and unusual style to its videos often being able to make their own music videos without the constraints and boundaries enforced by a major record label.



The usual iconography of an Indie video is the plain casual clothing, urban locations such as public transport and inexpensive props. The production of the video is usually low budget but this only adds to the feel of Independence to the video.

Conventions often seen in Indie videos include the songs lyrics being represented in the video to help the audience realise the meaning of the song. The artist or band is often shown performing. Their instruments are often used as props within the video and the artists are seen playing them.

Allot of indie videos are done in black and white but this if any is the only special effects. Extreme close ups and close ups are well known within indie videos to help portray the artists emotion from the song.