Anyway, you ready? We’ll give you a hundred thousand dollars
After your album comes out we’ll need back that money that you borrowed
So it’s really like a loan? – Alone? Come on, no
We're a team, 360 degrees, we will reach your goals!

from Macklemore and Ryan Lewis (Ft. Ab-Soul & Macklemore) – Jimmy Iovine Lyrics on Rap Genius

They are willing to give him $100,000 dollars that he’ll have to pay back, basically making it a loan. The label offers him a 360 deal and spins it in a way that makes it seem like they care about all of his goals in music and business, not just his debut CD.

360 deals have become very common as record labels continue to lose money from piracy and digital distribution. These deals inject the label into more if not all revenue streams of an artist. Labels historically didn’t see a dime of merch sales and little from touring as well.

Macklemore uses a clever play-on-words — “a loan” is interpreted (misheard) as “alone” by Iovine, implying that Iovine isn’t actually attending to Macklemore, maintaining the casual lack of concern he exhibited when he forget Macklemore’s name earlier.

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