What makes up the alternative music scene?

This was a question that I had been asked in my assessment feedback, and as a result made me rethink what I think my target market for this event is. Coming upon the A-X of alternative music by Steve Taylor (2006) I found a fantastic piece of information that backs up the ideas that I wanted to portray in response but couldn't find the words to use. Taylor states that alternative is forever changing, and that you can't know what the alternative is until you are aware of what it is an alternative to, which in itself is a kind of paradox, but it leaves the idea that anything can be alternative as long as you're looking to target something out with a certain market. An example that was given in this text of what alternative is was simply that anything with a targeted listener can be considered alternative, Taylor compares this to the likes of manufactured pop tunes which were not meant for continued listenability but to become a hit and remain in that point of time forever, a result of its vastly unrealistic and untargeted demographic.