An oft-ignored downside of a more democratic music industry is that the increased competition now favors bark over bite. Marketing is now as key to music industry success as the actual bands themselves, even among indie artists who onced leaned closer to anarchism than capitalism. The Wall Street Journal, a paper that 20 years ago would not have touched a story on indie rock with a 10-foot poll, now takes on the case of Greg Laswell, starving musician turned Apple GarageBand spokesman. The store also touches upon a slew of other indie promotional deals involving Pepsi, Whole Foods, and Marriott Hotels that probably have Steve Albini punching a wall somewhere.

Nonetheless, the transition to a focus on marketing in indie rock seems inevitable. Even most indie labels now have some major label presence, and with an skyrocketing number of artists struggling to obtain a piece of a rapidly shrinking pie, there's going to be a focus on asserting your superiority over letting your music speak for itself. Could this also be an unwitting side-effect of Foucault-quoting hipsters who have diminished the role of "good" or "bad" in describing art and artistic values? To some extent, maybe, but the bigger cause is probably cold, hard, economics.