For the record, in my opinion the definition of indie is simply: if you publish or distribute other developers’ games, you are not an indie.

In my opinion, “indie” refers to a subculture, and “independent” refers to a relationship. The words are often used interchangeably and liberally, but incorrectly. For example, “indie” is sometimes used to refer to a genre a la hip-hop, but I don’t think anybody would accept that indie-labelled games from EA are truly indie.