3 ms·

Yeah, I can't find any evidence of this deal, I'm guessing it was publishing only. The Heist debuted at #2 without any help from anyone. It's not like Macklemor

Yeah, I can't find any evidence of this deal, I'm guessing it was publishing only. The Heist debuted at #2 without any help from anyone. It's not like Macklemore is totally unknown, he was in the XXL Freshman Class in 2012 and had success on iTunes going back to 2011. It goes to show you how desperate the industry is that they would do something like this if they did sign a distro-only deal. It's happening more and more. Tyler the Creator had a similar deal for Goblin, it was a one-album deal with XL, almost no strings attached and a lot of conditionals for the label in regards to their rights. I'm not sure if he's self publishing Wolf but what need does he have for a major now? He has a freaking TV show and Williams Street is going to pimp the hell out of it. I wouldn't be suprised if Williams is putting it out, they put out Killer Mike's R.A.P. Music last year and that album both sold pretty well and was almost universally considered one of the top albums of last year. There's plenty of indies out there who are willing to come to incredibly favorable terms with artists and have just as much pull in 2013 as a major does.

res0nat0r 14y ago
Here is the transcript of the NPR report I heard the other week: http://m.npr.org/news/Business/171476473 http://m.npr.org/news/Business/171476473 The truth is that Macklemore and Ryan Lewis hired a company to help them get their music into stores. That company, Alternative Distribution Alliance, is an arm of Warner Music Group, one of the most major of the major labels. To carry them across the finish line, get to top 40 radio, get the number one song in the country, they went old school. They tapped Warner Music Group, not some quasi-independent subsidiary but the real deal. Warner gets them on the radio in exchange for a cut of the profits. Those were the major points. They just used an arm of WMG to get bigger exposure both on the radio and via distribution. I shouldn't have said 'signed' above when stating that is how they got to number one on the radio, they just signed a deal for a major to take a cut of the profits for the exposure and help that that brings to get them to #1.

res0nat0r 14y ago

Here is the transcript of the NPR report I heard the other week: http://m.npr.org/news/Business/171476473 http://m.npr.org/news/Business/171476473 The truth is that Macklemore and Ryan Lewis hired a company to help them get their music into stores. That company, Alternative Distribution Alliance, is an arm of Warner Music Group, one of the most major of the major labels. To carry them across the finish line, get to top 40 radio, get the number one song in the country, they went old school. They tapped Warner Music Group, not some quasi-independent subsidiary but the real deal. Warner gets them on the radio in exchange for a cut of the profits. Those were the major points. They just used an arm of WMG to get bigger exposure both on the radio and via distribution. I shouldn't have said 'signed' above when stating that is how they got to number one on the radio, they just signed a deal for a major to take a cut of the profits for the exposure and help that that brings to get them to #1.