Yeah, but what passes for 'indie' is also marketed and manufactured these days. What get's labelled 'alternative' in the mainstream is about as alternative as McDonalds. And, anyway, artifice and pop have gone hand in hand from day one - it's just more obvious and rapid-fire these days.
I mean, I really like some of the Monkee's songs and they are the epitome of manufactured pop. Doesn't stop Last Train To Clarksville being a top tune though.
In fact, I think there's more honesty in pre-fab pop than there is the marketing of certain singer-songwriters as apparently 'real' music. Artistic 'integrity' and 'authenticity' can be a selling point as much as 'fake' pop-thrills can.
The best thing about the interweb IMO with regards to music is that it has opened up a place for the real alternative, extreme and possibly quite mad music to exist without need for the mainstream at all.
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