There's a good article in this month's 'The Word' by Andrew Collins, that says, technically, 'the concept of indie is dead', and that it died out with the purchase of independent record labels by large corporations in the late 80's / early 90's. It helped that those record labels usually put out very similar sounding music and the bands all had that similar look / ethos that The Smiths were feted for. I think this is why The Smiths are often thought of as inventing 'indie'; it was guitar pop, it had intelligent lyrics, there was one iconic frontman who was a singer and (musically) nothing else, one exceptional guitarist, a sound amalgamated from a variety of old influences, a punk ethos, and above all it appealed to angst ridden teenagers.
But like punk, effectively, the word has become an elusive entity ... What is indie to some is not indie to others, but, for instance, when i go to a club night that plays The Smiths, The Stone Roses, Pulp, Led Zeppelin, The Libertines, Blondie, The Rolling Stones, The Arcade Fire etc, it's an 'indie night' because it describes a certain sound that embraces post punk, britpop, psychedelia and good old fashioned (credible) rock; all the stuff you rarely hear on the radio (unless it's 60's or 70's) and that was once thought of as anti - establishment; all the stuff you dance a certain way to and copy the style of the bands involved ... in other words guitar based music for different generations of kids that wasn't/isn't prissy pop.
In that sense, yes, Morrissey is indie ... you will only hear him played at an indie night. In another sense, no, he isn't, because he doesn't go for that sound or look any more. I don't share his obsession with lack of airplay, but i sympathise with it; he always wanted to be a pop star on a par with his heroes, he always wanted to be 'for the whole world' because he wanted the whole world to share his love of music and wanted a platform from which to communicate his views to as many people as possible. I would love everyone i encounter to at least know who he is (and some don't) but i'm not sure of my views on whether he should stand alongside The Pussycat Dolls and Justin Trousersnake on the mainstream airwaves ... if other artists of his ilk don't get played, then why should he be different? Also, in my experience, people who listen to radio one, and commercial / regional radio channels, aren't music lovers so much as music listeners; they don't seem to have an over-riding passion for a single artist and this is why they're happy to listen to dance remixes and sampled music (is that what Morrissey really wants to happen to his records?) Although, Virgin Radio, (the only channel i've heard since giving up on radio nearly 10 years ago) ought to play him, because they play other 80's / 90's 'indie'. I'd love more people to see what we see in him, but come on Morrissey, the indie crowd love you now (and we are legion), isn't that enough?