the_dp

at the time verve was a subsidiary of MGM, and before that was its own label that tended to sign jazz artists (the verve jazz compilation released in the 90's is amazing). it was independently produced by John Cale, who was not a major producer let alone artist. but if we want to nitpick on here, almost every "indie" band around today is produced by a subsidiary independent label. Even the smith's compilation album you mention was a subsidiary of Zomba.