StarZero All shows Try the podcast clipper →

Jonathan Poneman

Co-Founder and Co-Owner, Sub Pop Records · 1 appearance on the record.

computed by AI from the episodes · how this works → · full disclaimer →

founderexecutivesubpop.com ↗Wikipedia ↗

Jonathan Poneman co-founded the influential Seattle independent record label Sub Pop with Bruce Pavitt in 1988, playing a pivotal role in popularizing grunge by signing bands such as Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Mudhoney. He went on to guide the label for decades, overseeing major commercial and critical successes with acts including The Shins.

11statements → 6claims → 2claims resolved → 3.82/5average certainty → 1.45/5average debate potential → 7said about them ↓

1 supported 0 partly supported 1 contradicted 4 not checkable as stated how the 6 claims stand · each chip opens the sources

1 prediction · 5 assertions · 1 opinion · 1 insight · 3 disclosures · every statement was checked. The prediction and assertions are the 6 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 2 are resolved, and 4 name no date, number or outcome precise enough to check. Everything else (opinions, insights, what ifs, disclosures) can never be settled by the record, so it carries no assessment.

The record, in short

What the tape says about how Jonathan argues and how the claims held up. Everything they said, and everything said about them, is in the tabs below.

Their most notable supported claim

Assertion Supported
Poneman: The Postal Service's 'Give Up' is Sub Pop's second best-selling album
“Second best-selling.”
Jonathan Poneman Jun 1, 2020 ▶ 1:18:46 Sub Pop Records: Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman

Their most notable contradicted claim

Assertion Contradicted
Poneman: Sub Pop pioneered direct COD retail sales for US indie labels
“And at the time, independent record labels weren't doing this in the United States. We all figured that we needed to have a relationship with a distributor to get our records into the stores. But Bruce and I picked up the phone, and we decided to start selling…”
Jonathan Poneman Jun 1, 2020 ▶ 33:28 Sub Pop Records: Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman

How they sound: not measured why? →

We measure speaking style by listening to the audio itself, and a fair number needs at least 2,000 words from one person on tape we have measured. There is too little of Jonathan Poneman on measured tape to publish a rate. This says nothing about how they speak.

Everything Jonathan Poneman said on How I Built This that made the record, most notable first. Filter by type, assessment or year in the ledger →

Insight
Poneman: Running Sub Pop was easier broke than funded
“In some ways it was much easier to run the label with no money than it became when we had some money.”
Jonathan Poneman Jun 1, 2020 ▶ 1:07:17 Sub Pop Records: Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman
Disclosure
Poneman: Warner deal proceeds went directly to the founders, not Sub Pop
“Similarly, the deal was done with Bruce and myself, singularly. It was not done with SubPop, so the money went directly to Bruce and myself.”
Jonathan Poneman Jun 1, 2020 ▶ 1:08:37 Sub Pop Records: Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman
Assertion Contradicted
Poneman: Sub Pop pioneered direct COD retail sales for US indie labels
“And at the time, independent record labels weren't doing this in the United States. We all figured that we needed to have a relationship with a distributor to get our records into the stores. But Bruce and I picked up the phone, and we decided to start selling…”
Jonathan Poneman Jun 1, 2020 ▶ 33:28 Sub Pop Records: Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Poneman: Kurt Cobain regularly insisted Nirvana should sell a million records
“Kurt would Tell me regularly. We should be selling a million of these. And I'd be going, you don't understand, you know.”
Jonathan Poneman Jun 1, 2020 ▶ 52:54 Sub Pop Records: Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Poneman: Post-Nirvana, we paid $150k for bands that previously cost $2k
“Well, there were bands who, before Nirvana had their explosive success, we would have signed for 2000 dollars. In one particular case, I signed one of those bands for 150,000 dollars.”
Jonathan Poneman Jun 1, 2020 ▶ 1:15:23 Sub Pop Records: Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Poneman: 'Grunge' as a cultural gestalt will outlast the era's bands
“There are few things that I think are going to stand the test of time than the word grunge. I think a lot of these bands will long be forgotten, but that word grunge and the Style, and time, and gestalt. You know, everything that it summons will stay.”
Jonathan Poneman Jun 1, 2020 ▶ 37:29 Sub Pop Records: Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Poneman: Krist Novoselic demanded a recording contract by banging on Pavitt's windows
“One evening, Chris Novoselic went over to Bruce's house and started banging on the windows, demanding a recording contract.”
Jonathan Poneman Jun 1, 2020 ▶ 46:13 Sub Pop Records: Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman
Assertion Supported
Poneman: The Postal Service's 'Give Up' is Sub Pop's second best-selling album
“Second best-selling.”
Jonathan Poneman Jun 1, 2020 ▶ 1:18:46 Sub Pop Records: Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman
Disclosure
Poneman: Invested $10,000 in childhood savings bonds to fund Sub Pop
“There were savings bonds. And there was around nine or 10,000 dollars.”
Jonathan Poneman Jun 1, 2020 ▶ 25:06 Sub Pop Records: Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman
Disclosure
Poneman: Early Sub Pop funding relied on pitching personal connections on hype
“Bruce and I basically hit up everybody we knew for money at one point or the other, and it was a business proposition that was driven by hype.”
Jonathan Poneman Jun 1, 2020 ▶ 27:53 Sub Pop Records: Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman
Opinion
Poneman: Mudhoney remains Sub Pop's ultimate flagship house band
“Mudhoney ended up becoming, and still is to this day, the ultimate, or the flagship, or they're the sub-pop house band.”
Jonathan Poneman Jun 1, 2020 ▶ 31:33 Sub Pop Records: Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman

The other half of the tape: Jonathan Poneman's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 4 times in 4 episodes on How I Built This. 3 statements on the record name them. every mention, with the transcript →

Who brings them up most Guy Raz 4

Statements about Jonathan Poneman, by other people (3)

Assertion Supported
Pavitt: Nirvana shopped their 1990 Butch Vig sessions secretly to major labels
“So we sent Nirvana there in 1990, I believe it was May. They were supposed to record their next album, and that tape wound up being a demo that got shopped to Majors, unbeknownst to myself and John.”
Bruce Pavitt Jun 1, 2020 ▶ 53:50 Sub Pop Records: Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman
Disclosure
Pavitt: Firing four key employees triggered departure and co-founder estrangement
“The firing of four employees that I thought were very valuable to the company, and I was very traumatized by that. I was very, I can't even put it into words, but . I couldn't process that, and I was very upset, and I think that was really what led to our estr…”
Bruce Pavitt Jun 1, 2020 ▶ 1:11:21 Sub Pop Records: Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Pavitt: Sub Pop signed Nirvana using a 20-cent photocopied library contract
“John's true genius was to go to the library and photocopy a generic contract, use a little whiteout, and for you know, 20 cents worth of copies, we were able to get a contract with Nirvana that is essentially the reason why we're talking to you today.”
Bruce Pavitt Jun 1, 2020 ▶ 47:08 Sub Pop Records: Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman

Every mention by year

tap a year for its mentions
00223320202021episodesmentions
02320202021episodes it came up in
000.51.51320202021episodesmentions per episode
2021 1 mention in 1 episode
2020 3 mentions in 3 episodes 1 per episode

Appearances (1)

EpisodeDateSpeaking time
Sub Pop Records: Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman Jun 1, 2020 21m
Made with StarZero

Turn any episode into a week of clips.

This entire site, over 800 episodes transcribed, diarized, checked and made playable, runs on the StarZero media pipeline. Drop in your own episode and the podcast clipper finds the moments worth sharing, cuts them, captions them, and reframes them for every feed.

Try the podcast clipper Learn more