Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Debut High On Charts

[Ninjaz In Paris]

I think he's stacked dough over the years, from shows and shyt.
He's been grinding for years. He found a producer, they did the myspace thing, mixtape thing, ep thing and now after like 6 years they set it all up dropped and dropped the album.
And cac station support music, he got radio play on pop stations, alternative stations and on. Unlike major hiphop stations, that won't play something different unless it moved plenty records first.

But like you say, everyone can't start a label.
Too much time, financing risk, knowledge requirements, capital requirements and on.

He could've but I highly doubt it... unless he had a nice paying job while grinding because artists don't see a third of the money they claim they're seeing from shows...

A combination of financing, networking, grinding & building the right relationships definitely have helped... but guarantee he wasn't doing this anywhere near broke...

 

[Harry B]

See, and this is what I'm getting at. Unless Macklemore started his label with his own cash, someone invested in him. He has to pay somebody. He ain't paying himself. And let's be honest, all those "Wingz" and "Jimmy Iovine" records weren't cutting it. He needed a big single. Insert "Thrift Shop" unto the scene.

The gimmick in indie music is to go mainstream by supposedly "mocking" the mainstream. To the average listener, it's a "good" mainstream record and they buy it in bulk. All while the old fanbase buys the album thinking the artist is sticking to their roots while the new fanbase is larger and going to think this is a "new" artist on the scene. Artists like Macklemore work this shyt to perfection. Don't be surprised if he does a joint venture with a major label soon, completing his "selling out" process.

He's already been talking about doing shyt the the majors. Duke has not "mocked" the mainstream. The featuring artist on for example Jimmy Iovine is Ab-Soul who is signed to Jimmy Iovine, another feature on his album is Schoolboy Q who is signed to Iovine as well. He saying that he didn't wanna get fukked in the ass by a major label, by signing a standard 360 deal.

He wants the freedom to release whatever single he wants, to release his album when he wants etc. Is that supposed to be bad? From where I'm sitting it's a good thing, his financial situation is his.

And how was Thrift Shop supposed to be a bad thing? It following the same approach he's been moving with. He's rapping about consuming brands, just cause they're brands.

 

[Harry B]

He could've but I highly doubt it... unless he had a nice paying job while grinding because artists don't see a third of the money they claim they're seeing from shows...

A combination of financing, networking, grinding & building the right relationships definitely have helped... but guarantee he wasn't doing this anywhere near broke...

You do know that he did like shows for 3-4k and the double in his own city before his album dropped right? Assuming 50 bucks a show, assume that he gets 50% of that, that's 75-100k a show before taxes. I don't know why he would need a huge investment, he wasn't an overnight success, from Seattle, to Washington, to stacking plays on myspace and on.
Duke already had an indie album just in Seattle moving thousands of records 8 years ago.

I would have a hard time believing it, given that he was an overnight success.
But if you grind, from doing shows for a few cats to 100s to a thousands over 8 years, I doubt someone was investing big money.
It's not like Mac Miller who was opening for major rappers when no one knew who he was.

As far as show money, the only factual amount I've seen is Wiz Khalifa getting 75k, and he did over 100 shows in 1 year so obviously he's not lying.

 

[Artificial Intelligence]

.......................

 

[TdashDUB]

This is true... but he has been able to sell more records than Atmosphere ever has. There's a reason for that too. Though due to content alone, Mac Miller would have the most viable market.

Atmosphere has sold over 1.5 million records.. His highest first week #'s stand at 120K or some number around there

..just sayin'

 

[Tuc2DaBoot]

Atmosphere has sold over 1.5 million records.. His highest first week #'s stand at 120K or some number around there

..just sayin'

Wait, how did I get quoted in this? I never posted any statement like what you just said.

 

[TdashDUB]

Wait, how did I get quoted in this? I never posted any statement like what you just said.

read the bolded statement in your quote bruh

 

[FAH1223]

The Heist just went gold

And he's independent

I've listened to the album. He got a couple decent tracks but he is corny. I give him respect for being passionate about his craft though and not getting screwed over signing to Interscope.

 

[Ninjaz In Paris]

He was backed by Warner Bros...

 

[dtownreppin214]

The Heist just went gold

And he's independent

I've listened to the album. He got a couple decent tracks but he is corny. I give him respect for being passionate about his craft though and not getting screwed over signing to Interscope.

yeah that's a good way to describe him. i went to his show at sxsw, he was hella corny for me but the cacs ate it up. i give him his due for putting on a very energetic show.

 

[mozichrome]

heard that thrift shop song fully...shiit is all right

 

[Jimmy ValenTime]

Ryan lewis runs the business side of things, mackalmore the artist , he might have gotten a good deal or not but hes not some jay-z or 50 cent style business genius

 

[Illuminatos]

"I'm gonna pop some tags only got 20 dollars in my pocketttt"

I don't want to like this song but it's stuck in my head.

 

[Kliq_Souf]

who got a album link

 

[jilla82]

He said what really blew him up was being on Ellen, and then that Thrift Shop song.