"It's Nice to Hear Someone Do Something Different"

"The real reason that indie started to die, or at least felt as though it did, is Spotify. As streaming supplanted downloads and album sales, it automated music discovery. Instead of reading Pitchfork or asking a record-store clerk for recommendations, more and more people began to let algorithms suggest their next obsession. This had a variety of consequences. One is that it's become harder than ever for challenging music—music that you need to listen to a few times in order to love—to gain a foothold. The prestige associated with doing something different has started to fade."

Spencer Kornhaber at The Atlantic reviews Chris DeVille's Such Great Heights: The Complete History of the Indie Rock Explosion.