Abstract
People have different opinions on the idea of indie music, and this dissertation starts with the various opinions, hoping to redefine and illustrate the complicity and the ambiguous boundary of Taiwanese indie music. In my observation, I discover that there are three elements of Taiwanese indie music, which are the “Do it yourself” (as known as DIY), the orientation of participating in social movement, and the orientation of intense nationalism. With these elements, they form the unique structure of Taiwanese indie music. Also, the complicity and the vividly recognized identity within Taiwanese indie music are further established through different interpretations and practices by different artists. In order to capture the complicity and the flexibility in the image of Taiwanese indie music, I use “identity boundary” as my methodology by interviewing ten groups of indie music artists, a total of 19 people, through in-depth interviews and focus group interviews about three questions. First, how is the identity boundary in Taiwanese indie music communities formed? Second, what is the indie music artists’ experience during the formation, the shift, and the ambiguity of boundary and how do they react to the gradually established nature and ideology of Taiwanese indie music? Last but not least, how could the indie music artists come up with the claim that “music can intervene the society” and how could they put it into practice? Therefore, the core of this dissertation lies in discussing the definition of indie music and the reaction of the indie music artists to the already defined images of indie music through their subjective point of view to examine how they fortify and deconstruct their ideas of indie music so that we can reunderstand and redefine the indie music. The ultimate answer for me is finding the reason why indie music is indie music. Finally, I find out that the identity of Taiwanese indie music relies on the local music environment, which means that the recognition and imagination of “guà” (a group of people with the same belief) have influence on the practice and the formation of music producing of the indie music artists. Therefore, the indie music evolved into different styles based on the understanding of “guà.” Furthermore, I believe that Taiwanese indie music artists’ interpretation of “authenticity” lies in the center of their own identity formation. Therefore, they can identify themselves from others through the process of reinterpreting and imagining the authenticity.