The Shins are not even a band anymore, Mercer should just give it up and start calling it his solo project since thats exactly what it is ;(

sub pop is 49% owned by warner brothers making it NOT an indie label.

Mr. Baggins - Cary Clarke here. I actually had originally written the phrase as "relationship with the (mostly) independent Sub Pop" because the 49% Warner ownership stake you mention. Word count always being a factor in print, I decided to cut it because 49% is not a majority share, which to my mind still justified the term "independent" for the purposes of this piece, though that is certainly debatable. Getting into the finer points of whether or not Sub Pop is independent would require its own column, I think.

So, I suppose this note is just meant to say "Yes, it could be argued that you are correct" and to let you know that I was at least thinking of this issue. I hope that explanation makes sense.