Barsuk Records

Nick and I were working this temp job that had just expired.

We had gotten a royalty check from Barsuk for a couple thousand dollars, and that was gonna pay our rent for the next couple months, and we were going on tour, and we could expect to make a couple thousand dollars there.

We were in this liminal space, which I've always thought is the most difficult place to be as an independent artist, which is between having this be your hobby and having it be an actual job, if not a career.

There was never a moment in those first four or five years that in any way I thought that this was going to be a career.

I wanted to be on a different label, but here was this opportunity, and it definitely got our name around, and that has probably helped over the years.

But I'm glad we got out as soon as we did.

I wish we'd gotten out after one record, but we got out after two, and then ended up on Barsuk, where we've been much, much happier ever since.

But here's the thing: the same major labels that were supposed to ruin indie rock were also the ones with the resources and reach to make these bands huge.

He started out licensing songs for Matador Records and left to create his own company, Bankrobber Music.

When all this went down, he was working with Barsuk, Death Cab's label, on placements, and we'll answer his question in a minute

It was bananas.

It was just off the charts.

Obviously, it's really helped them get to where they are

Until this point, Death Cab's audience was significantly smaller than the tune-in audience for a network TV show, and this show was getting over seven million viewers an episode in its first season.

Ben Gibbard tells us what happened when the head of their record label, Barsuk, called him about The O.C

Imagine that you're us, and Josh Rosenfeld calls you on, like, a Tuesday and is like, "Hey, there's a show on Fox, and they wanna use a MovieScript ending.

I love Death Cab for Cutie, so it makes sense this is a slam dunk for me, but it really sounds like such...

It's like someone understood why the like Barsuk era Death Cab run is so good.

It, it feels like someone understood that it's not just because Ben Gibbard is singing, and I think between their previous songs to this album, it's such like a glow up for Abel Baker.

It sounds so good.

It's the most critically lauded album in their catalog to date, as well as one of the year's best sellers from this scene, Transatlanticism.

Josh Rosenfeld, the owner of Barsuk Records, knew from the first time he heard it that it was special.

All the pieces really seemed to be falling into place.

I think the Photo Album time, they'd been touring tons and tons, and they were all just really stressed out and a lot of kind of internal band tension happening that felt like it had resolved and we'd kind of all gotten into a groove.

Sup.

From my, uh, Barsuk Records.

That's why I had some trouble seeing-

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it.

My Barsuk Records-

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