Fake TikTok fans and pop music's 'unethical' marketing
Do indie darlings like Sombr and Geese owe their success to TikTok "trend simulations"? The question has sent shockwaves through their fan base. Yet manipulated
Do indie darlings like Sombr and Geese owe their success to TikTok "trend simulations"? The question has sent shockwaves through their fan base. Yet manipulated charts are as old as the music business itself. There's a special name for music that's not produced by the big labels and that can't be easily squeezed into a genre: "indie," short for independent. Indie bands have an image of being authentic and non-commercial. Fans presume their favorite bands achieved their success through their great music and hard work alone. That's why many were shocked to find out that the hype surrounding indie bands like Geese, as well as singer-songwriters like Sombr, Jane Remover and Mk.gee turned out to have been fabricated, at least in part, by social media manipulation. A kick-start for bands The uproar began with an interview in Billboard magazine with Andrew Spelman and Jesse Coren — heads of American marketing company Chaotic Good Projects, which represents Geese and Sombr. In it, the two spoke openly about how they help artists' hits go viral. "A big part of what we're doing is posting enough volume across enough accounts with enough impressions to try to simulate the idea that the song is trending or moving," Spelman explains. After that happens, the artists' own posts also see higher engagement. The company uses an automated promotion system, which runs countless social media accounts across thousands of iPhones to make a song a hit. The duo sees this "trend simulation" as a sort of kick-start for their clients, whose songs probably wouldn't have grown famous otherwise.
If an artist then does actually get some attention and manages to score an appearance on a show like Saturday Night Live, for instance, the next phase of boosting the artist is initiated. "The second SNL drops at midnight you should post a hundred times saying that was the best performance of the year," Spelman continues. That then creates a positive impression in other, real users' perception. He goes on to emphasize, "I think controlling the narrative is really, really important." 'I'm calling it cheating' But this doesn't stop with social media — streaming figures are also being manipulated on Spotify. On the podcast "The Manager's Playbook," US A&R and music manager Chris Anokute — who has worked with big-name stars like Rihanna, Katy Perry and Selena Gomez — provided a candid explanation. Music labels allegedly hire promotion companies to ensure a song gets tens of thousands of extra hits. "Everybody in the record business (...) has seen their company cheat," says Anokute. "I can tell you I cheated. (...) They call it marketing, but (...) I'm calling it cheating. You're manipulating streams, you're manipulating charts, you're manipulating data, you're paying for play. (...) That's cheating." 70 years of manipulated charts While the means of manipulation may be new, the principle itself is as old as the music business itself, as Anokute explains. Managers and record companies have always found ways to promote their artists in morally questionable, sometimes even illegal ways. The late 1950s: The "payola scandal" erupted in the US. To increase sales figures, radio DJs and heads of broadcasting received cash or gifts for giving certain songs higher rotation.
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