It’s not easy to break through in the music industry. Usually you need startup capital—say, a record label and months of marketing budgets behind that hit single you’re looking to pitch.

So, when someone reaches the pinnacle without all that stuff, it stands out. That and more in today’s Social Media Roundup:

A Hip-Hop Star’s Lessons

How Macklemore became a shining example for your business http://t.co/xyvy5fqF #assnchat

— MultiBriefs (@MultiBriefs) February 8, 2013

Familiar with Macklemore? If not, you should be. The Seattle rapper, along with his producer Ryan Lewis, has managed to top the Billboard Hot 100 with the song “Thrift Shop,” an ode to buying clothes on the cheap. But the rapper’s success is impressive for a number of reasons—mainly, that he did it without the benefit of a major label, instead building word of mouth through YouTube and other mediums. This allowed the duo to take an approach that was more idiosyncratic, without having to polish it for mainstream ears—instead, letting the mainstream come to them. As a result, when they finally got a song on the radio, it made them the first musical act since Lisa Loeb (remember her?) to have a chart-topping hit single while working outside of the system. According to MultiView, there’s a big lesson here that translates: “Instead of just relying on someone to give him a lump sum to create his work, he worked on it until he reached a point where the internet fell in love with it.” (ht @MultiBriefs)

A Twitter Edge Case

RT @vedo: Can a Twitter user really prohibit you from republishing tweets? (via @poynter) http://t.co/sMyYD5s2 <good to know>

— Deirdre Reid, CAE (@DeirdreReid) February 8, 2013

Think you can share that tweet you found? In most cases, it’s usually OK, but investigative journalist Teri Buhl recently stretched that rule a little. She recently declared on her Twitter page that “no tweets are publishable,” an unusual stance for a public account. Now, if you’re like us, that probably raised some questions. Fortunately, Poynter’s Jeff Sonderman clears things up, pointing out that if an account is public, you’re generally allowed to share tweets freely via Twitter. (For what it’s worth, by the way, the story itself is fascinating.) (ht @deirdrereid)

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(Photo by Der Robert/Flickr)