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Have you ever been to a thrift shop? If you have, then you’re participating in the latest transformation of the music industry. A small indie, genre-bending hip hop artist from Seattle has changed the landscape of music business forever. If you have not heard of Ben Haggerty, known globally as Macklemore, you need to start listening. His rise to the top has the era of dominant music labels is crumbling.
According to Entertainment.ie, Macklemore has recently become the first unsigned artist to reach number one on the U.S. music charts since Lisa Loeb did it in 1994 with her song “Stay” from the popular movie, “Reality Bites.” However, Macklemore did not have a hit movie to promote his song, but what he did have was a strong social network following and a passionate fan base.
Macklemore did not have a powerful label promoting his songs on the radio. He did not have a world famous producer making his beats. He did not have name recognition in the rap game. With simple word of mouth and an Internet takeover by his fans, Macklemore’s song “Thrift Shop” has become a staple on the radio waves without any label backing.
“Thrift Shop” is approaching 70 million views on YouTube, and Macklemore has performed on Ellen, the daytime talk show hosted by renowned comedian Ellen DeGeneres.
What does this mean for famous music labels like Warner Bros., Island/Def Jam, Aftermath, Epic, Atlantic and Columbia? Macklemore has showed us that he does not have to conform to a label’s requirements or creative control over his music to become popular.
First, these large labels will probably go after Macklemore’s producer, Ryan Lewis, who made the hypnotic beat. They will most likely offer Ryan Lewis a large contract, so only time will tell to see if he signs with a major label. Second, a label could try to sign Macklemore, but in his song "Jimmy Iovine," which is about the chairman of Interscope Records, Macklemore bashes the encounter he once had with the man. This could make signing Macklemore to another label an ever larger problem. "Thrift Shop" will make music labels reevaluate how they go about promoting artists and how their control over new artists could change the artists’ creativity and self-expression.
According to Entertainment.ie, “Thrift Shop” has sold more than one million units since its release as a single from Macklemore’s debut full album The Heist. His album sold only 78,000 copies in its first week when compared to a similar revolutionary hip-hop artist Eminem, whose debut album The Slim Shady LP sold 283,000 albums in its first week, but went on to sell more than a million copies — and we all know how big Eminem has become. The same transformation could happen to Macklemore since he has now changed the music world forever.
The consumers decide who will become popular in the music world based on our decisions to buy an artists’ music we can choose who to promote. Would you rather want music formulated by generic labels or an artist who makes music simply based off of desire and emotion?
A version of this article appeared in the Jan 31 issue of the Collegiate Times.
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I don't think Macklemore is all that great. Thrift Shop has grown on me a little bit, but there is still something off about it that keeps me from diving any further into his other songs.
Signing with a big label might be the best thing for him, as his music quality won't change much, but at least he'll make a lot more money.
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Listen to Otherside. That's all I can tell you.
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best song he's made i agree
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Thift shop is nothing like his other music. Excellent, thoughtful lyrics. You wont be disappointed.
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You've got to hear more of his stuff, Thrift Shop, in terms of deeper meaning, is nothing compared to most of his stuff
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Listen to Jimmy Iovine and you'll second guess how he'll make more money. All of a little or very little of a lot? I hope he sticks to his own guns.
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Listen to Same Love, Can't Hold Us and Neon Cathedral
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10,000 hours is amazing too. Got listen to church on the unplanned mixtape.
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Most of his other music is nothing like Thrift Shop. I encourage you to check out some of his other songs such as "Otherside," "Same Love," "Wings," and "Can't Hold Us." I think you will be pleasantly surprised. You can hear all of those songs and more pretty easily on Youtube.
Also, to your point about making more money. I'm not sure I'm following your logic. Right now he is keeping all of the money generated from sales of his music (Thrift Shop is already double platinum). With a record company he would only get a (small) percentage.
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After taxes, about 7% for him and Ryan to split according to the song.
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PLEASE don't let Thrift Shop deter you from checking out his other stuff. It is a catchy song, but even he says he didn't make it thinking it would be a single. Macklemore has some great other songs and Ryan Lewis's beats are even more infectious than in Thrift. I take Thrift Shop as the song it took to make him recognizable, but it is nowhere near his best stuff.
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no offense on macklemore
but he is never going to be eminem
or near anything like eminem
never compare any rapper to eminem
he is unique and the greatest
k thanks bye
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While I appreciate your excitement for the "crumbling" of "the era of dominant music labels," I only wish it were so. You have been a bit misinformed, as many news outlets have. The "independent release" is a bit misleading: yes, Macklemore is unsigned, meaning he made no deal with a record company in order to obtain the funds to make the album. However, your claim that "Macklemore did not have a powerful label promoting his songs on the radio" is false. Once the album was made, a number of labels were looking to sign him to a distribution deal to promote the album: they signed with ADA, the indie counterpart of Warner Bros. So while you are right in that a "label's requirements and creative control" have been proven unimportant in making quality music, even really good independently made music doesn't get famous without label help. Radio stations are bed with labels, which is part of the reason pop stations play "Thrift Shop" in heavy rotation and rap-specific stations largely do not.
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Alright, while I like Macklemore...
You don't really know what you're talking about, regarding his independent status... he is getting label recognition now. He's not tearing down any music industry constructs, he's just teaming with a producer of his own accord. He hasn't not overcome the temptation of money.
Second, you really shouldn't compare him to Eminem, not with the overwhelming differences that a 12 year gap creates between music industries.
Thirdly, we all know who Ellen is. And going to a thrift shop has nothing to do with being part of the evolving rap industry. Just because I'm a black guy in Paris doesn't mean I've "participating in the latest transformation of the music industry" thanks to Kanye and Hova.
Lastly, and most importantly, this has GOT to be the most grammatically and structurally atrocious article I've ever read on the CT. Many of your run on sentences go, eventually, nowhere with the subject of the sentence. Take a breath. Edit these pieces, thoroughly, before you go making outlandish statements about who is "shattering standards."
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You are missing out if you don't listen to the entire album.
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I don't think Macklemore is great at all. Like "Thrift Shop" No I mean don't even compare him to Eminem because he's been a rapper for so long and he is AMAZING nobody could ever be like him or anywhere near being like him. Macklemore is just a kid in a lonely world trying too rap. It's kinda like that time he was cracked out on stage with Ryan Lewis. and what Macklemore writes isn't rap I mean who knows what it is. No Offense Too Macklemore and Just Sayin
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I never heard of him before, and I was born and raised in Seattle, and live in the burbs now.....
My daughter kept playing this song that got on my nerves....
It was catchy, but I don't like one hit wonders, and they aren't worth my time or my hard earned money. Two months later I watch one of his videos... then another...then another..and I am like Dayuum this guy has some good music...Its not just rap.. its good ass make me want to listen in my car and at home music. Jimmy song was just on point...
Why would he sign to a major? Unless he is going to pull a Master P. Master P signed to a major, but he kept 90%...and his masters....and his publishing......
Macklemore I guarantee is making more money than 90% of the rappers/artist that are selling more than him, and have been in the game longer then him. If you ever followed E40, you would also understand... Forget about double platinum, go Double Profit....
Macklemore has probably gone Quadruple profit. Stay independent, he had me hooked on his other songs, and I would gladly pay more than the $10 Amazon had for it.
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Thrift shop has to be one of the worst songs on the album. The man is a genius lyrically
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So.HOW DID HE GET HE ACTUALLY GET HIS SONG ON THE RADIO?
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I would just like to say if you blast Macklemore's biggest hit, Thriftshop, without know his other songs, You truly don't know the meaning to rap music. His songs are inspiration to be yourself in anyway possible, from being big in your own way all the way to loving yourself. He shows his struggles in life in poetry, shown through beats. He doesn't just rap about stores, parting hard, inappropriate subjects and just random things put together. He raps about freedom of how we live and love. So next time you say, " I don't really like Thriftshop", look further and listen with your heart and ears to, Jimmy Iovine, Otherside, Wings, Same Love, White Walls, Can't Hold Us, and others (I know almost every song). Look a further and you'll find an amazing artist with an amazing talent of inspiration. He may not be close to Eminem but he's pretty darn close to his talent.
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That was amazing! <3
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