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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

Listen as she tells that story on 2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke. Find it anywhere you get your podcasts.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

It was a surreal destination for an indie-rooted artist who had spent over a decade navigating the underground.

Quote card on a spiral notebook page. A Polaroid close-up of a woman’s face, with dark bangs and her eyes in shadow, is captioned “A strange world.” Large text reads: “There was no label presence in my awareness of the music industry for so long. From 15 when I played my first gig until I signed, which — I was almost 30.” Attributed to Leslie Feist. Hand-drawn musical notes and an acoustic guitar sketch decorate the page.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

That deal paved the way into the North American major label system through Cherrytree Records, an imprint of Interscope Records. At the time, Interscope was arguably the biggest and most powerful record label in the world.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

But by 2004, the landscape was shifting. After recording her breakout solo record Let It Die, Feist's path took a unique turn when she signed with Polydor France, drawn to a cultural landscape that deeply valued artistic labor.

Quote card on a spiral notebook page. A Polaroid of a woman in white crouching behind sheer white fabric is captioned “Getting closer,” beside a hand-drawn flag. Large text reads: “The French Revolution, we can thank for establishing a baseline respect for any worker, including people who work in the arts.” Attributed to Leslie Feist. A circular “France” postmark that reads “Made with love” is in the corner.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

Before Leslie Feist became a household name, she operated entirely outside the traditional label machine. Having played music since age 15, she spent years touring with electro-punk icon Peaches and playing an integral role in Canada’s beloved collective Broken Social Scene.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

And that's not even the Shins' strangest TV moment. Ask him about the time he showed up to Gilmore Girls in a winter sweater to play a spring break in Florida.

Notebook page on an orange plaid background. Text reads: "I remember talking to Stuart Meyer at Sub Pop. He said that this guy in a comedy show wants to use the song. He's going to direct a movie... Natalie Portman wasn't cast or anything like that." Attributed to James Mercer, The Shins. Below the quote is the pale blue album cover for Oh, Inverted World by The Shins, showing white branches with berries. Line-drawn doodles include a suited figure with a question mark for a head, pink hearts, and a vine.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

He tells the whole story in Episode 3 of 2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke, from the phone call to the awkward night he went to see it himself.

Notebook page on an orange swirl background. A polaroid labeled "Let's begin" shows a dark-haired man with light stubble looking at the camera in a pale, teal-tinted room. Large text reads: "The thing about that movie was that I okayed that early on, and then I forgot about it because it wasn't until 2004 that it came out." Attributed to James Mercer, The Shins. A film reel and a hand-drawn movie projector decorate the page.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

James Mercer said yes to a movie before it had a cast, then forgot about it for two years. By the time Garden State hit theaters, Natalie Portman was handing Zach Braff a pair of headphones, and a song he'd okayed from a van was suddenly everywhere. 🎧

Scrapbook-style notebook page on an orange wood-grain background. A taped polaroid labeled "Jumping in" shows four men in orange life vests and patterned swim trunks standing on a dock by the water. Large text reads: "I kept getting people saying that they had seen Garden State and that I had to watch it." Attributed to James Mercer, The Shins. The 2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke cover art, flower doodles, and a pen decorate the page.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Back in 2004, a fictional teenager in Orange County started name-dropping his favorite band, and a whole generation went looking for the record. In Episode 3, we follow indie rock into your living room. It starts with The O.C.

An image designed to look like an email sent from the 2004 podcast to Bethany Cosentino says: You’re watching some show, and a song comes on. In the mid-2000s, it was very likely that song was by an indie rock band.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

In a bonus podcast interview for subscribers, 2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke executive producer Courtney E. Smith sits down with Kevin Drew of Broken Social Scene.

A designed tile says 2004: The Bonus Interviews. Below is a photo with a mustard filter of Kevin Drew of Broken Social Scene playing his guitar.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Tegan Quinn on the "who cares" attitude from the NYC bands, Robb Nansel on the "Saddle Creek sound," and Mac McCaughan on the night Arcade Fire packed a 250-capacity room. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts and get more at www.2004pod.com

A card designed to look like a page in a scrapbook has a quote that reads, "We really did feel like there was this whole musical movement that was changing things." Kevin Drew, Broken Social Scene. At the top is a photo of Kevin perfoming.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Plus: Ben Gibbard on growing up in the shadow of grunge, James Mercer on trying to impress the coolest kid in Albuquerque, Carl Newman on the moment he realized the world was noticing Canada,

A card designed to look like a page in a scrapbook has a quote that reads, "By 2004... we're selling four to 5,000 copies of You Forgot It In People every week in the United States. It Would go on to sell over 250,000 copies in the U.S., probably another 75K in Canada, more around the world." Kevin Drew, Broken Social Scene. Below is the album art for You Forgot It In People.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Kevin Drew of Broken Social Scene takes us to Toronto, where a roommate argument about indie labels versus major labels turned into Arts & Crafts Records. We hear how a band of friends became a whole community, and how You Forgot It in People broke sales expectations.

A card designed to look like a page in a scrapbook has a photo a man playing guitar backstage at the top, and a quote in the middle that reads, "We wanted to do our own thing and have our own label. So we birthed Arts & Crafts based around 'You Forgot It In People.'" Kevin Drew, Broken Social Scene

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Episode 2 of 2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke goes back to the years before the breakthrough. Indie rock was still being made in dingy clubs and tiny scenes across North America, long before anyone was putting it on magazine covers.

A card designed to look like a page in a scrapbook has a photo of two men at the top, and a quote in the middle that reads, "Suddenly we found ourselves... building off the inner circle of Broken Social." Kevin Drew, Broken Social Scene

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

A little preview of Episode 2 of 2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke, which comes out Wednesday, September 30. 💿 When the Shins were still Flake Music, they toured with Modest Mouse, and James Mercer handed Isaac Brock an early version of "New Slang" on a burned CD.

An orange box has a design in it that looks like an email. The text says: "The Shins caught their break the old-fashioned way — by giving a friend with connections a burned CD."

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Hear more of her story on 2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke. New episodes start September 23 — wherever you listen to podcasts.

A poster has eight red doors, stacked four and top and four on bottom, with the words 2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke on them. Gold and orange records flow out from one open door on the bottom right.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Alex Patsavas was music supervisor for the Fox teen drama The O.C., which in the early 2000s meant her job included having a physical relationship with a mountain of CDs. It was on her to actually listen and figure out what fit.

A Post-It note card has a quote that reads, “I had a small office in Hollywood, and it was just ceiling-to-floor CDs in a practically oppressive way.” Alex Patsavas, music supervisor, The O.C.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Hear more of that story on 2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke. New episodes start September 23, wherever you listen to podcasts.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Laura Ballance of Superchunk co-founded Merge Records. For most bands on the label, success meant a record that sold a few thousand copies and got a band from one city to the next on tour. Bands would build slowly, city by city, on word of mouth and a fanbase.

A Post-It note card has a quote that reads, "It didn't even occur to us that a record on Merge could explode in the way the Arcade Fire record did." - Laura Ballance, Merge Records

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Hear the real behind-the-scenes on 2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke. The first episode is out now. Listen to it everywhere you get podcasts.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Before a record could change your life, it had to get to the store. And before it got to the store, someone had to move it there — physically, in a truck, through a warehouse, into a distribution network.

A frame designed to look like a post-it note holds a quote that reads: "If somebody doesn't pay you, you can't pay somebody else. That's, in many ways, the nature of being independent." Amy Dietz, ADA

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

What happened next was a huge learning curve for Kris and everyone at Domino. Hear about it in 2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke. The first episode is coming on September 23. Get it anywhere you listen to podcasts.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Kris Chen was the second guy hired at Domino Records in America, to replace Daniel Kessler of Interpol, who was leaving to do his band full time.

A frame designed to look like a post-it note holds a quote that reads: "I used my personal credit card to buy flights for Franz Ferdinand. I booked hotels and booked the first couple of shows." Kris Chen, Domino Records.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Hear more of his story on 2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke. New episodes start September 23 — wherever you listen to podcasts.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Josh Schwartz created The O.C., and by season two he'd built something that shouldn't have existed on network television: a fictional live music venue, The Bait Shop, that existed purely so his favorite bands could show up and perform.

A designed frame with a post-it note holds a quote that reads: "I was probably a little bit drunk on power, like a kid in a candy shop. Wait, you mean Death Cab will perform, and Modest Mouse will perform?" Josh Schwartz, executive producer, The O.C.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Hear more from Aaron on 2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke, including how he got his hands on a rogue record from The Postal Service and fell in love with it. The first episode is live now, and you can hear it everywhere you listen to podcasts.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Getting an indie band onto commercial radio in 2004 was not supposed to happen. The major labels had the relationships, the promotional budgets, and the leverage. Independent labels had guys like Aaron Axelsen.

A designed frame with a post-it note holds a quote that reads: "A shift in music at the time... led to this explosion of culture and music in indie rock in 2004." Aaron Axelson, Live 105

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Hear more about the role independent record stores played in 2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke. The first episode will be released on September 23. Listen anywhere you get podcasts.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

TV on the Radio and Joanna Newsom played free shows at Sonic Boom Records in Seattle back in 2004, and those are moments Nabil Ayers still talks about with disbelief because he loved those artists.

A frame designed to look like a post-it note holds a quote that reads: "It was crazy that in 2004, when these bands were getting famous, we could still get them to come play for free in our record store." Nabil Ayers, Sonic Boom Records

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Hear more about the seminal indie records Sub Pop release in the '00s, including The Shins and Iron and Wine, on 2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke. Episodes start on September 23 wherever you get your podcasts.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

When Tony Kiewel joined Sub Pop, it was well after the label's Nirvana-era peak and into the subsequent lean years. The label had become small and careful, signing bands based on what it could actually afford, not what it hoped might blow up.

A designed frame with a post-it note holds a quote that reads: "I think almost all of those records we made in those first few years of the 200s were made for less than $10,000." Tony Kiewel, Sub Pop Records

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Press play to hear how it all cracked open. You can find 2004 anywhere you listen to podcasts.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

That's the world indie rock was about to crash into: Bush's re-election amid wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, TRL bands dominating sales and radio play, and the existential dread that the internet was going to kill the music industry — or maybe it was going to save indie rock.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Episode 1 of 2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke opens backstage at an MTV taping in Times Square, where Death Cab for Cutie are uncomfortably sandwiched between Nickelback and Sarah Silverman. At one point, someone asks if Jeremy Piven can sit in on drums. Obviously, the band said no.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Hear more from Lyle on 2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke. New episodes start September 23 — wherever you listen to podcasts.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Lyle Hysen founded Bank Robber Music, spending decades on the side of the business that placed songs in movies, TV shows, and commercials. A band he worked with turned down a Hummer ad for an amount of money he still calls insane, then tried to take it back a week later. Too late.

A designed frame with a post-it note holds a quote that reads: "I remember one of my bands turned down a Hummer commercial, and it was a lot of money. It was an insane amount of money." Lyle Hysen, founder, Bank Robber Music

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke comes out on September 23, wherever you get your podcasts.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Mac's own band, Superchunk, comes up again and again throughout this podcast — sometimes as a reference point, sometimes as the reason two bands ended up on the same label, sometimes just because it turns out a whole lot of things in indie rock in the 2000s are, in some way, Superchunk's fault.

A post-it pad style frame holds a quote that says: “Every show Arcade Fire played at CMJ was packed... When the record came out, it was everything that everyone wanted it to be."

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

When Arcade Fire played CMJ in the fall of 2004, something was in the air. Mac McCaughan, co-founder of Merge Records, was there. His label put out Funeral, and he says that past a certain point, every show was packed. It was one of those rare moments where the hype and the reality were the same.

Three people stand with their hands stretched out towards the camera, smiling. On the left is a man with sandy brown hair and swoopy bangs in a black sweater. In the middle, a shorter woman with curly dark brown hair pulled back. And to the right a tall man with red hair and glasses.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Kris Chen was the second guy hired at Domino Records in America, to replace Daniel Kessler of Interpol who was leaving to do his band, Interpol, full time.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Hear her story on 2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke. The first episode drops on September 23. Get it wherever you listen to podcasts.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Sarah Lewitinn was a lot of things in the 2000s, and one of them was a music blogger writing under the name Ultragrrrl. Another was an assistant editor at Spin. She was embedded in a version of the 2000s Manhattan post-punk revival scene.

A designed frame with a post-it note holds a quote that reads: "In 2004, I was doing a lot of things I probably will regret at some point in my life." - Sarah Lewitinn, Spin magazine.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Hear Justin explain the internet that will never exist again in 2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke. The first episode is on Wednesday, September 23.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Before Spotify had an algorithm, before blogs had comment sections, before anyone had figured out what the internet was supposed to do with music — there was Epitonic.

A post it note frame reads: "Everything was free. And it was highly curated... We wanted to make sure it was legit." Justin Sinkovich, Epitonic

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

It was a lot more calculated, and a lot more fascinating, than it looked from the outside. The first episode of 2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke is out on Wednesday, September 23. Listen anywhere you get podcasts.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Jon Landman at The Syndicate remembers exactly what it took to get an indie band heard on commercial radio in 2004: Making sure the right people felt like they discovered something, rather than being sold something.

A post it note frame reads: "As we look back, it's pretty amazing that a lot of these artists are still touring and doing it on their own terms." Jon Landman, The Syndicate

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Hear Robb's story on 2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke. Get the first episode on September 23, anywhere you listen to podcasts.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Robb Nansel started Saddle Creek Records out of Omaha, Nebraska — about as far from the New York and L.A. music industry conversation as you could get. It was just Robb and a small crew calling, trying to get anyone to pay attention.

A frame designed to look like a post-it note holds a quote that reads: "We had all convinced ourselves that major labels were the enemy and nothing good could ever come from them." Robb Nansel, Saddle Creek

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Hear Matt on 2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke to find out what it looked like when a radio station just played what it wanted. The first episode comes out on Wednesday, September 23. Listen anywhere you get podcasts.

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