I wouldn’t consider myself to be underground or avant-garde as I find these labels very scene and group-specific, whereas I don’t really identify as working in a certain group. The concept of ‘avant-garde’ sound art has become more a genre than a mentality in experimentation and ends up contradicting itself when it becomes its own sub-mainstream, much like the concept of an anti-culture or counterculture that gradually diminishes to nothing but a romantic aesthetic.
I think the concept of such movements will become less prevalent with the continued evolution of digital sharing.
I think it does bring up the interesting conversation of authenticity. When we looked at the websites and Bandcamp pages of specific labels, I found the chosen aesthetics interesting, with Avant-Garde labels going for a more minimalistic and utilitarian approach, while underground labels went for a more DIY approach, with less of a rigid visual style. I found this interesting as minimal design is in many ways simpler to implement