Here's what's even better, possibly: the song just broke into the Billboard Hip Hop charts which means this is getting played on actual rap radio.
So they've gotten further on their own than they would have in years past which is a good thing.
"We’ll give you a hundred thousand dollar. After your album comes out we’ll need back that money that you borrowed. So it’s really like a loan, a loan? Come on, no. We're a team, 360 degrees, we will reach your goals! We’ll get a third of the merch that you sell out on the road. Along with a third of the money you make when you’re out doing your shows. Manager gets 20, booking agent gets 10, so shit, after taxes you and Ryan have 7% to split. That’s not bad, I’ve seen a lot worse, No one will give you a better offer than us.
"I replied I appreciate the offer, thought that this is what I wanted. Rather be a starving artist than succeed at getting fucked."
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.
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.
And yes, we liked it before it was cool.
Radio in general serves mostly as background music for ads. A song that rejects consumption in very specific terms is the last thing they want to see.