At the end of September, I caught Ingrid @ Rockwood Music Hall. The club was sold out but, as most people know, Rockwood isn't that big. Since then, Ingrid sold out the Knitting Factory last week and has now sold out the Bowery Ballroom for an upcoming show on December 19th.

Ingrid's DIY rise has been nothing short of amazing - in a previous post in late September, I commented on that the songs on her MySpace page had gotten 3 million plays. About 7 weeks later, the number of plays is now up to 5.4 million. All I can say is more power to her...

Ingrid has a post on her MySpace page entitled "To Sell Out or Not To Sell Out...that is the question...". Below is a snippet of the post:

my question to you all is, when do you call it "selling out" and when do you call it "succeeding"? i have gotten a few emails and comments saying that now that my songs are on TV and mainstream radio programs, that i have become "a sellout". i suppose i should have stayed in my basement playing concerts for my dolls all my life.... i have seen this before. it makes me a bit upset because it seems that some people love knowing about an indie artist, but as soon as they garner some attention, these people get mad! but you have to understand that this is how we make a living!

I really get tired of the indie/hipster backlash when any artist starts to get a following. I have seen this with too many artists and it is really just silly posturing. If an artist is only playing to you and your five friends night after night, they are going to find a different line of work. You can't afford to live in NYC and not make some money. We all have a "I remember when [fill in the blank with your favorite indie artist] played my living room, high school gym, McDonald's parking lot" story but both time and people move on. Get over it kids - no one needs to apologize for being successful.

To get back on point, Ingrid released the official video for "The Way I Am" on YouTube last week. The video was directed by Autumn de Wilde (Rilo Kiley, Death Cab for Cutie, Elliott Smith).



Ingrid puts on a great show so, if you can get tickets for the Bowery Ballroom show, she is really worth checking out.

Links:
Review of Ingrid Michaelson's September 25th show at Rockwood Music Hall
Review of Ingrid Michaelson's November 16th show at Knitting Factory
Ingrid Michaelson's Website
Ingrid Michaelson's MySpace Page