We live in an often angry, uninformed and distrustful society.The anger and ignorance is easy to find — just check out the YouTube video of T.I.’s “Swagga Like Us,” featuring M.I.A. Now count the comments claiming she looks terrible and blown up like a balloon. Count the ones calling her ugly and fat. Now find the one or two that explain she’s nine months pregnant. I don’t even like M.I.A., but come on.The distrust is even easier to find. FOX just released a new show titled “Lie to Me,” whose constant commercials seem to highlight the excitement of lying. And distrust is easy when everyone can easily hide behind a wall of text on a screen.This anger, ignorance and distrust can even bleed into our personal entertainment.Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth recently partnered with Urban Outfitters by making the Mirror/Dash clothing line available exclusively at the aforementioned store, according to Pitchfork Media. This follows Sonic Youth, one of the seminal indie bands crafting and creating a unique blend of noise-rock post-punk, releasing a greatest hits album through Starbucks.It is becoming far less strange for an “indie” band to partner with large corporations for advertisements or promotions.Wilco helped sell Volkswagens. Feist helped sell iPods. Modest Mouse, fronted by a man who recently cut himself with a knife onstage, helped sell Nissan minivans. Postal Service and UPS. Yael Naim and Apple Computers. The Walkmen and Saturn. Mogwai and Levi’s. Of Montreal and Outback Steakhouse. Even way back to Daft Punk and The Gap.This seems totally reasonable. One of the purposes of creating music for a living is creating music. The other is making a living. So, the logic follows.But, according to NPR, “indie bands are viewing TV commercials as a harmless way to make money, but fans argue that the music becomes controlled by advertising directors rather than driven by the artist.”This is ridiculous on several levels.It is the same argument that comes up when indie rock fans complain about their bands getting too popular, which is often seen as a way of selling out rather than for what it is — a way to continue developing their art.Many fans don’t actually trust bands they support to make the decisions needed to remain a “pure” band. It’s not as if the bands listed earlier lost their ability to make music. They just managed to make it more lucrative.In an interview with The Onion’s AV Club, Isaac Brock of Modest Mouse defended the use of his music in commercials: “People who don’t have to make their living playing music can bitch about my principles while they spend their parents’ money or wash dishes for some asshole. Principles are something that people are a lot better at checking in other people than keeping their own.”What a band creates should be seen as the band’s property. While this often isn’t the case, if a band wants to license its song to sell something — regardless of how inane that said something is — we should trust their competence in decision-making.After all, that band is the one with the option, not me.Anyway, fans are often short-sighted in what can be gained from the sales of a band’s music.Just look at Spinto Band.”After a hefty offer from Sears to use their song ‘Oh Mandy’ in a television ad, Delaware-based Spinto Band decided the offer was too lucrative to pass up. They used the money to fund a European tour,” according to NPR.So next time you’re seeing your favorite indie band, after watching a poorly produced commercial featuring your favorite song, remember that commercial might have paid for them to be on the stage before you.Trust the bands you like.——Contact Travis Andrews at [email protected]