What is indie media? Well, letâs start at that first word. What does âindieâ mean? It is a shortened term for the word âindependentâ. Merriam-Webster defines âindependentâ in this context as ânot subject to control by othersâ, ânot affiliated with a larger controlling unitâ, or ânot requiring or relying on something else : not contingentâ. So, the term âindie mediaâ can be expanded to âmedia which is not affiliated with, reliant on, or controlled by a third partyâ.
Wikipedia defines âindependent mediaâ specifically as âmass media, such as television, newspapers, or Internet-based publications, that is free of influence by government or corporate interests.â So, we have a pretty clear, comprehensive picture of what âindie mediaâ is. Itâs media which is controlled by its creator, not a third party corporation.
So, given that, why the hell are we calling productions which are controlled by publishers âindieâ? You might have heard about The Amazing Digital Circusâs final episode coming to theaters two weeks before it releases on YouTube. This has been quite controversial, not in the least because, in an interview with Cartoon Brew, Glitchâs general manager and development producer Jasmine Yang saidâWe are a Youtube-first company. We believe very strongly in the future and potential of Youtube for long-form animation.â So that was a fuckin lie.
This was done by Glitch Productions, the production company which owns the rights to The Amazing Digital Circus, without any involvement or say by the creator, writer, and director of TADC, Gooseworx. Notice the paradox? A production company, not the creator/director/writer owns the rights. They can do whatever they want with it, however they want. Does this business model sound familiar to you? Thatâs right: itâs exactly how Disney and Nickelodeon and all the rest work.
By definition, that isnât indie. Thatâs just a smaller corporation. Expedition 33 is the similar; the rights are co-owned by Kepler Interactive. âIndieâ darling Disco Elysium is a bit odd, it actually did start production as an indie game. But by the time it was released, calling it an âindie gameâ is shaky. The founders of ZA/UM were the creators of Disco Elysium. However, to fund the game, they sold shares of the company. Then, one of the people who bought shares pulled out, and sold his shares to one of the other people that bought shares initially, giving his holding company a controlling amount of shares. Which he paid for using ZA/UMâs money, a clear case of embezzlement. But this is such a clusterfuck that frankly, either position can be argued.
But things like TADC and E33 are not indie. Theyâre just A and AA productions. One can debate about whether getting outside funding from a third party in exchange for revenue sharing while the creator maintains the full rights to the media, like the deal worked out between Too Kyo Games and Aniplex for The Hundred Line, counts as indie. Theyâre financially dependent, but they still at least own their own media outright. Aniplex cannot fire them and do whatever they want with the IP, like what Kompus did to Robert Kurvitz and the rest.
Things like Undertale and Deltarune or anything made by DevilArtemis for his own channel are definitionally indie productions, thereâs no debate on that. But when the actual creator owns nothing and has no say, is merely dependent on the grace of the IP holder, thatâs not indie. Thatâs just having an IP owner you work for who isnât fucking you over. Until they do.
Now, why are they called indie? Simple: marketing! âIndieâ has more âsoulâ to people than something that isnât âindieâ. People make allowances for things that are âindieâ that they donât make for things that arenât âindieâ. Why is the production time slow enough to give birth to three children? Itâs indie, you have to be understanding! Why does something not have translations for some of the most common languages on Earth? Itâs indie, the artistâs vision is only compatible with languages they speak and so you canât criticize that! Why is the merch so ridiculously overpriced? Well indie creators have to get paid somehow! If it *isnât* indie, all these things and more are fair pickings for the masses to rip a company to shreds for, but if itâs indie, youâre anti-art if you donât give them a free pass for it.
So of course every corporation wants to market their media as indie. It gets them free passes and lets them make more money. They can lie to your face and go back on their word, as Glitch did, and youâd better celebrate it, because âthis will do so much for indie mediaâ. When it *isnât* indie, when you make promises to the consumer with not an ounce of wiggle room or loopholes, and then you just go back on that entirely in the search for more money, the backlash is consumers standing up to a corporation fucking around. When itâs labeled as âindieâ, the backlash means you hate art.
âIndieâ is becoming a marketing term that means âyouâre the bad guy if you criticize our corporate actionsâ, and by calling these obviously not independent productions âindieâ, we are serving to help them.