One of the marks of an independent label, after all, is shoddy organization. McCaughan released early Superchunk full-lengths on Matador, before he worked out a deal for all Merge records to be distributed by Touch and Go. You never really knew what was going on with your record. You didn't know if they were taking out ads, if the record was going to come out on time. And yet there's anger toward Nirvana for jumping from Sub Pop.
Popularity deflates our illusions of being unique and special.
But good music should be universal, exempt from its context. Then even the bands that decided not to sign with a major started to deal with indie labels in a dif- ferent way. I think it skews your perspective on how the world works. Matador's Chris Lombardi and Gerard Cosloy.