Hi,
Peter Andre was a big indie star as was Kylie Minogue. Why? Because they were both on indie labels (Mushroom records & PWL).
The term Indie referred to the way record labels operated. These Indie label operated without the help of the major controlling label. They sorted their own control of the whole operation of releasing & promoting records. The majors had a tight grip on the music business controlling what got released, what got promoted etc.
A true Indie label did it all, using independent pressing services, independent promotion people, independent distributors, independent marketing experts, independent international agents etc. This allowed many styles & artists to come to the fore.
For example, Two Tone started as an independent label. Island records was an independent label before it became big, releasing ska records. Also Factory records was an indie and so was Creation records.
There was a big rise in the 70s & this lead to a Indie chart being formed for records released by Indie labels. A number of these records were guitar based & this lead to the use of Indie to describe a style of music. A number were post Punk, new wave & alternative rock bands that helped set the tone.
Peter Andre has sold a few records on the Independent Mushroom, label. But not fully sure why he is qouted. But Kylie Minogue has sold a lot more records on both PWL (in the worldwide) & Mushroom ( Australia) & is one of the biggest selling indie artists in the UK.
SCIDB