52 Indie Quotes To Help You Ride Your Own Wave

These indie quotes will inspire you to continue on your journey to independent success.

The word indie means many different things to different people and certainly the concept of “indie” has changed over the years.

In a strictly technical sense, indie refers to independent music, art, film or any form of creativity that is released independently.

Over time the term has grown to include games, clothes, or even wallpaper.

It can be any display that appeals to a certain niche with a unique feel.

Today, indie can be content released independently or content that has a certain aesthetic.

Independent content creators and artists have had to contend with limited resources, exposure and support in the past.

However, in our globalized world, the internet makes it more possible than ever for artists to create and share their talents independently with relative ease.

Check out these 50 indie quotes.

Don’t forget to also check out these success quotes to inspire greatness in life and business.

Check out our most popular quote article, a list of short inspirational quotes for daily inspiration. 

Our inspirational quote category page has even more inspirational and educational quotes.

Indie Quotes About Indie As An Aesthetic

1. “Indie film isn’t dead, it just grew up.” – Kevin Smith

2. “The gritty indie films are a lot rarer than the films that aspire to fill multiplexes.” – David Tennant

3. “Part of the excitement of doing independent film is the complete unknown of what lies in store for the film’s future.” – Rachel Miner

4. “On an independent film, you really learn about pace. You have so little time to do things, that you really have to know your scenes.” – Juno Temple

5. “I came out of independent film, that’s my roots.” – Nicolas Cage

6. “The only reason I ever do an independent film is that I believe in it, and I think it has something special to offer. I’m certainly not doing it to be a millionaire.” – Jason Ritter

7. “The lifeblood of my career has been independent film.” – James Woods

8. “Independent film is for actors that love to act.” – John Leguizamo

9. “When you’re making an independent film what you don’t have in time and money you have to make up with creativity and diligence.” – Matthew Lillard

10. “When I was young, we didn’t have indie games. We had ‘garage developers’ or similar terms, who were just small teams making games out of passion.” – Markus Persson

11. “I knew that I tend to always gravitate to the indie side of things.” – Aaron Paul

12. “Look: You’re not gonna become a millionaire doing this, but that was never the point. And I think a lot of people in the indie film business kind of took their eye off of that.” – Edward Burns

13. “Equal Vision seems to be doing really well. A lot of these major labels are just imploding and becoming indie labels, anyway.” – Vic Fuentes

14. “In British music, you have indie, rock… Grime is now one of those pillars. It’s a foundation of British music.” – Stormzy

15. “I knew nothing about the independent film industry. I didn’t know much about the industry itself. All I knew was how to watch movies, how to enjoy them, how to hate them, how not to like them.” – Michelle Rodriguez

Quotes About Indie Style

16. “You can’t ignore the Asian and Hispanic populations in L.A. We can let audiences know independent film is not just about white men.” – Elvis Mitchell

17. “I want my music to be really big. I have no interest in DIY Brooklyn; I don’t want to be a small indie band.” – Porter Robinson

18. “I feel like in pop music and even indie music, there’s this weird thing where women have been pitted against each other.” – Phoebe Bridgers

19. “The culture of independent film criticism has totally gone down the drain and this seems to come with the territory of the consumer age that we are now living in.” – Wim Wenders

20. “I believe that independent filmmaking is the last frontier of creative expression available. So I’m always willing to lend a helping hand to a young filmmaker who’s just getting into the business.” – Lloyd Kaufman

21. “They said I was a married mother of two but the record sounded like an indie album and they didn’t know how to market it! This country is incredibly sexist, as is the music and media industry.” – Siobhan Fahey

22. “I actually didn’t think I was going to do TV because I don’t really watch TV. I’m a little bit pretentious, and I do these little indie movies, so I envisioned that more as the path for myself.” – Zazie Beetz

23. “I have immense respect for Unity because they played a key role in establishing this indie revolution, empowering a huge number of people to get into game development.” – Tim Sweeney

24. “I wear glasses and suits, so I guess I am an indie artist.” – Stevie Jackson

25. “Like most people, there are things I love about Amazon. It’s cheap, it’s fast, and it’s at my doorstep. But Amazon will never replace the important role my local indie plays in my community.” – Patrick Carman

26. “I wouldn’t be where I am right now, and have the right work ethic and discipline, if it weren’t for all the indie films I did. We weren’t pampered and were pretty much on our own.” –Coco Martin

27. “On a big film, there’s almost no way you can meet everyone. On an indie, there are 30 people and no trailers to duck into.” – Aaron Paul

28. “I’m indie through and through. I’ve always gone out with boys in bands.” – Alexa Chung

29. “Just because something’s kinda indie and whatever and only a few people know it, it doesn’t give it more authenticity over Rihanna’s ‘Work’ work work.” – Richard Ashcroft

30. “Try being an indie author, a minority author, a woman, and a person with health issues in the world of traditional – that’s where you are clearly ‘different’ and marginalized. I am all of that, yet I am still here and smiling. Life is good!”- Kailin Gow

Indie Quotes about Indie Rock, Indie Hip Hop and Indie Movies

31. “I think in the world of indie music there’s this sort of false modesty.” – Alex Kapranos

32. “My sound is, at its core, a mix of things. Definitely an imperfect mix, but one that incorporates elements of the music I love – a bit of indie rock, super rhythmic rapping, and lots of synths.” – K. Flay

33. “I’m letting inspiration move me, in whatever direction it may, without concern if this sounds too rap or too indie, or there’s too many words in it.” – K. Flay

34. “Ah, reality TV: where opportunists delight in exposing opportunism! It’s kind of like the indie music scene.” – Diablo Cody

35. “The only music I was listening to for ages was old soul. So I wasn’t listening to a lot of new music – especially indie music.” – Florence Welch

36. “It’s important to keep indie record stores alive because their unique environments introduce music lovers to things in a very personal way.” – Norah Jones

37. “Some artists and indie musicians see Spotify fairly positively – as a way of getting noticed, of getting your music out there where folks can hear it risk-free.” – David Byrne

38. “Indie world won’t have me, and mainstream world treats me like an alien, but here I am still floating between these two worlds.” – Billy Corgan

39. “I’m still that indie kid at heart. I’m still that guy who wrestled in front of 15 people and never knew he’d make it to WWE. I’m still that person.” – Johnny Gargano

40. “I try to create a style that reflects my music. So I would say it’s definitely got some ’90s elements, some pop elements that are a bit more feminine, and then more indie, androdgynous elements.” – Nina Nesbitt

41. “I will never sign to a major record label again. If, by some mega fluke, a record of mine looked like it might break big, I’d try and do it via an indie or somehow license it. I’m not having my music owned by those corporate bastards again.” – Malcolm Wilson

42. “The pirating thing is bad. The people it hurts the most are the ones you least think it hurts. It’s not the big Britney Spears albums that are being pirated; it’s the indie bands that don’t have two cents to their name.” – Rob Zombie

43. “People who like progressive music tend to sneer at the idea of a kind of punk aesthetic, and people who like alternative indie rock or punk rock tend to sneer at what they see as the pretentiousness and pomposity of progressive music.” – Steven Wilson

44. “I used to think of ‘alternative rock’ as a radio format, kind of the way ‘indie rock’ used to have more meaning. But it means different things depending on where you are or what country you’re in.” – Aaron Dessner

45. “Post COVID-19, there will be a rise in the number of people only listening to songs. The rise in audio consumption is great for indie artistes, including me, because those who are unable to afford a music video, but have a great song, will benefit from this.” – Jubin Nautiyal

46. “If you are a superstar, or whatever you want to call yourself, a person who’s had outrageous success, and you decide to go indie and tell the record companies to screw themselves? That takes a certain amount of courage. And bullheadedness, really.” – Daryl Hall

47. “Between the Dinosaur Jr. albums and his recent solo albums, ‘Several Shades of Why’ and ‘Heavy Blanket,’ J Mascis is emerging as one of the last men from all that ’80s indie madness, still writing songs that you want to listen to over and over.” – Henry Rollins

48. “There’s an audience out there for all these different types of things. Whether it’s comedy, motion-picture drama, family movie or a cool, cutting-edge indie, it’s nice to know that I can span all those different genres.” – Ralph Macchio

49. “The chasm between independent film and commercial film is now so wide. You either have to be super-famous and get a first-time director or writer’s indie script off the ground, or you’re a newcomer and go and put a cape on for four years.” – Zawe Ashton

50. “Independent film is almost nonexistent right now, because all the distributers that used to love to put out these little art films are all out of business right now, because it costs so much to open a movie.” – Ron Perlman

51. “In the beginning, it wasn’t even a question of deciding I’m going to do independent film and not commercial films – I wasn’t being offered any commercial films, and there wasn’t an independent scene.” – Steve Buscemi

52. “We’re told that independent film lovers… folks that are used to watching art house films, won’t come out and see a film with black people in it – I’ve been told that in rooms, big rooms, studio rooms, and I know that’s not true.” – Ava DuVernay

What did you learn from these indie quotes?

Perhaps the most well-known or memorable example of indie success is the legendary music label known as Motown.

Motown was such a successful independent label that it eventually became the name of an entire musical genre.

In the 1950s and ’60s, American radio did not focus on African American artists.

Motown was one of the first independent labels that focused on Black artists, creating some of the earliest indie music ever created.

Forty years before Motown, Oscar Micheaux began directing and producing the first Black independent films.

Independent filmmakers such as Spike Lee, John Singleton and Ava Duvernay have pushed the genre forward.

What makes the indie movement so special is that indie art provides a platform for much deeper forms of creativity to manifest.

Indie artists are able to break away from rules or limitations and create content that speaks to their hearts, being the artist they want to be.

What’s your biggest takeaway from these indie quotes and sayings?

Have any other favorite quotes to add?

Let us know in the comment section below.