Within a few weeks, the scene independent Spain has witnessed a series of ruptures that suggest the end of a cycle. Or, at least, an afterthought. Groups like Confetti de Odio, Cariño or Shego have disappeared or lost some of their members. To these are added the cases of a few months ago, such as Pantocrator, Monteperdido or Hinds. They are groups that belong to the same generation that now seems to have closed its first cycle of life: almost all of them emerged in the heat of a scene that recovered enthusiasm for the guitar, irony and pop immediacy, and which it found in festivals and playlist Spotify is its main visibility channel. That some of these bands are going through turbulence does not seem coincidental: it indicates the exhaustion of a model and a way of understanding independent music in the age of the algorithm.
The first to announce the end of his project was Lucas Vidaur (Madrid, 31 years old), stage name of the creator of Confetti de Odio: “It’s over! Confetti de Odio comes to an end! They’ve been fantastic years (…) I feel that now my heart and my mind are looking towards other creative horizons and, out of respect for everything that this project has been, I can’t do it at half speed”, he published on Instagram on 22 September. Two days later, the pop trio Cariño announced that it will continue without one of its members: “We want to tell you that María has not been part of the project since May. It was her personal decision so we ask for your understanding, patience and respect.” The former singer’s response was immediate. María Talaverano (Pozoblanco, 31 years old) wrote on the social network That same week it was also confirmed that Shego will continue with a change: Maite Gallardo (Madrid, 26 years old) was replaced by Irene Garrido (Alicante, 26), also known as Irenegarry, who was the bassist of the project until 2023.
This last year, Pantocrator or Monteperdido also announced their end and, in May last year, Hinds went from being a quartet to a duo: Carlotta Cossials (Madrid, 34 years old) and Ana Perrote (Madrid, 31 years old) remain in the project at this time. “Just before Long live the Hinds (their last album) we were at the lowest point of our entire career. Without manager, without a label, without money, without bandmates, with debts and without a producer”, they declare in an interview with EL PAÍS.
Him independent, That term, which in Spain was associated more with a sound than with true independence, ended up becoming (as Eric Sueiro de Medalla underlines) “one of the most capitalist scenes that exist”. He says it without rancor, but with clarity, in a statement for this video call report: “The independent Spanish has hegemony at festivals because it doesn’t bother. It’s a white, apolitical message, and that’s why it’s given more attention. But behind it there is a wheel that burns artists.”
Medalla is a band from Barcelona formed in 2016 by Eric Sueiro and Adrià Enguídanos. Since then they have alternated in three different groups: today, with Sueiro as the only original member, Medalla has accumulated almost a decade of career and has just released musical machinetheir fifth album. The paradox, according to him, is that “all agents in the sector (labels, manager, promoters) earn their living from music, while the groups who create it almost never manage to do so without having another job.”
Sueiro knows what he’s talking about: in addition to being Medalla’s lead singer and songwriter, he maintains a full-time job outside of music and takes on much of the group’s management. “There are four of us, but I channel 90% of everything: the etiquette, the hiring, communication. I do it because it makes me happy, but I could do it alone at the expense of my mental health, and I don’t want to do it.” That rollercoaster feeling is repeated in Lucas Vidaur, who decided to close Confetti de Odio just after experiencing his greatest peak of attention. “I went from playing for 15 people to having a summer with nine festivals, and then everything went back to normal. I realized that I wasn’t having as much fun as I used to. “Professionalization kills desire.”
After that sudden impulse came the inevitable decline: fewer concerts, less coverage, less noise. “It raised expectations in me that did more harm than good,” he admits, “suddenly you find yourself trying to do shots or signing with a label that you don’t know if it represents you, just because you feel you have to keep growing.” In that continuous oscillation between enthusiasm and tiredness, Vidaur clearly saw that continuing would be an illusion: “Continuing to continue generated more anxiety than anything else.” Thus, the artist admits that he was “obsessed with numbers: listeners, followers, those who stop following you.” “Until I understood that, if you don’t stop worrying, you can’t be happy”, he adds. Expectations, in the digital age, they’re measured in numbers, and that can cause more frustration than anything else. “When you record an album, you think it’s the best in the world,” Sueiro admits, “and so it might not connect with people. If you just measure it in numbers, it will all be frustrations. The system forces you to constantly compare yourself.
The problem with music, published by Steve Albini (key figure of alternative rock and producer of Nirvana) in The disconcerting from 1993, is one of the most cited texts on the structural exploitation of the music industry, a diatribe against the recording system that dismantles the myth of the contract as synonymous with success. Its central thesis is that the music industry is underpinned by a structural asymmetry of power and value: capital controls the means of production and distribution, while the artist becomes a disposable cog. That same logic has moved into the independent, digital sphere and, although the independent Spanish is less precarious than other scenes such as metal, electronic or jazz, the greater the number of intermediaries, the greater the feeling of vulnerability of the artist. Thus Albini wrote: “Every gang that signs a contract believes they are achieving freedom, when in reality they are accepting another form of servitude.”
“When a seal or a manager They make you feel guilty or pressure you artistically, it’s torture,” says Hinds. “We recommend leaving that employment relationship.” For them, staying out of the wheel was a matter of survival. “Enthusiasm is what has kept us strong and tireless,” they explain. But they acknowledge that it’s not always easy to sustain that enthusiasm in an environment that rewards productivity and constant novelty: “There’s a universal obsession with youth. I hope that we women can grow old in peace once and for all.”
In Spanish independent pop, the romanticization of youth has become a market value: freshness, irony and recklessness are some of its fundamental values. “Novelty and lack of shame are rewarded,” Vidaur admits, “and it’s great when you have it, but it’s also cruel. In music, youth is valued as much as beauty.” The “young band that just broke through” aesthetic leaves no room for maturity or pause. Turning 30, in the industry, almost seems like a declaration of obsolescence. Hinds themselves joke about this idea: “I’d like to think we’re all working to allow women to age in peace, but like I said, we’re working on it.” The problem is not just gender, but structural: the independent The Spaniards have built their identity for more than a decade on adolescent nostalgia, the imposture of self-confidence and the myth of hedonistic rock.
The conclusion, however, is not pessimistic. Both Vidaur and Sueiro agree that finishing a stage is not the same as failure. “A cycle is closing,” says the first. Despite this, I also agree that if the project had remained mere hobby Without ambitions of professionalization, his head would be better furnished. “I saw a total disconnect in how the project started and how it ended,” Vidaur says, although he says that “if Confetti had been a huge project and filled theaters, I wouldn’t have thought about these things.” For their part, Hinds believes that history is destined to repeat itself: “I think there are groups that find a formula and, for at least five years, the rest of the groups that come out just try to replicate the formula of the one that triumphed. We need to act together.”
