I feel like you always point out the obvious, saving me the trouble
I haven’t worked in the music industry, but it seems reasonable that major labels wouldn’t mess with shady fake follower tactics, as they don’t earn from fake fans.
PR totally, they want their artist to look like the hot shit, while he isn’t and will never be.
This is why the label then has to be very careful at figuring out if it’s all fake or if there’s actual interest involved.
If you think Justin Bieber, xxxtentacion or Billie Eilish blew up because of fake followers, you’re just going into conspiracy theory. These artists were stellar in positioning themselves in the current culture wave. Just because you can’t see it doesn’t mean they faked it.
Basically, fake followers won’t ever make an artist. It’s just a scheme sold by these “marketing teams” to young artists who don’t even know what they’re doing and throwing money blindly at anything that grows their numbers because that looks good for them.
Billie Eilish is Talented but she comes from a family of actors and musicians that have connections thats nothing new
Xxxtentacion use a soundcloud method of placing his song in a different genre of music so it can trend on the easy charts grow from it then move to bigger charts
and we all know Justin was discovered on youtube and had a major label backing
not to say none of them are talented because they are beyond talented but the story for these artist are out there and nothing new. I am more so focus on what a A&R of a certain record label told me to do If I want to run a record label
You know hacking the explore page, giving the illusion of fame to make a artist pop in this day and age because of over saturation
Billie is #goals for girls younger than her. The whole attitude, outfits, etc. You’re reducing her to coming from a good family and ignoring her style and how that places her in the culture.
The hacks didn’t make xxxtentacion, even if it helped. The mumble rapper boom wasn’t just because of soundcloud tags, it resonated with the younger community and their culture, who make things go viral.
Bieber was on Youtube at the time when artists started popping from there into major label deals, because agents were starting to take notice of the phenomenon. Once again driven by current culture trends.
You need to explain better what you consider to be “hacking the explore page” because to me that just reads like “exploiting culture trends”, which is basically what I attributed the success of these 3 to.
I also only consider the major labels as “record labels”, because they’ve been here since that term meant something.
Does said record label actually print records to put on stores or is it a digital label?
And most importantly, do you want to run a digital label or a record label working with physical product?
Never reduced billie branding but it’s the truth rather you want to believe it or not
I spoke to X manager before he died at SXSW and he literally said that’s how X went viral and him going to jail at the time made he even more popular (In hip hop if a rapper goes to jail it usually make them bigger as a artist think Meek Mill etc)
The A&R works at Atlantic Records if you must know he was most so speaking on Atlantic having a network on IG that can make anything Trend not the following trends thing they literally create the trends that people are sucked into (Example Billie Ellish)
Also most major labels rarely print anymore most of their release are digital only the big artist actually get physical product CD sales are like 10% now if not lower while stream is a big chuck hell stream is such a big chuck the music industry is actually making money again (Since 2017)
Last at the moment I have a deal being worked out with distribution with universal music group they will handle distribution, playlist pitching, top page discovery on different streaming platforms but me and my partner will have to do everything else and pay for it, Press, Social media marketing, artist branding/ development, Advertising etc
The thing was he said give the illusion of a artist being popular to attract real fans. He said people do not follow or check out music from artist with small followings because people first impression is nobody cares for that artist so why should I? he says the first impression a person gets from a artist is wow they have so many followers and people are liking and engaging on their account they must be popular let me check out their music and maybe follow them. this plays a part in the branding(the imagine and artist personality type or the look of the artist (Think The Weeknd, and billie eillish) give the artist the illusion and the branding then move over to advertising, playlist pitching and blog outreach because the illusion and branding will make blogs and playlists pick a artist up quick. That’s basically what he said though
I’m not debating whether or not it helped, I was just saying that it was culture trends.
I also take for granted that they push the trends to then capitalize on them.
While I don’t consider Warner/Universal/Sony to have created the style, they certainly have the power to bring it to the mainstream and capitalize on audiences identifying with those styles.
I talked about print because it’s a different ball game that only BIG labels play at nowadays.
Digital labels have very little production costs compared to those, which means they’re playing a slightly different game.
I’m honestly curious why you need to have a deal with Universal, but I’m probably not looking at it with the same scope/scale you are.
I do agree that it’s very hard for a music artist to pop nowadays, which you need before anyone signs you.
However putting songs out every day would be a hundred times more efficient than boosting their social profiles with fake followers.
There are dudes out there wanting to be the first to find these artists, specially if the artist is still at a point where they interact with their following.
The “problem” here is that anyone wants to be famous while not even putting the work.
With the mentality of “once I make it, I’ll put in the work”. It’s completely backwards.
I’d need to do some background check on people like Logic, but I’m sure he popped because of his years of hard work, not boosting his social profiles with fake fans.
I apologize if I feel like I’m attacking your stance on this, I just feel like it’s bad to “fake boost” an artist even if someone at Atlantic feels like it’s the way to do it.
I feel like it’s bad to that’s why I brought it to the Mp social group. I was more like if that’s the case why not just use methods that gains real followers his response to my text is that’s not their job their job is to make money off an artist and make them a superstar. The artist should build a organic fanbase before they are sign and what they look for when signing an artist is
Streaming numbers
social media engagement
like/follow/followers ratio Min of 100k followers
Youtube views
viral content (Are they trending and what demographics are they trending with
Then use that data and create a illusion of the artist then blow them up with the things I posted earlier (It’s like a whole cycle starting with word of mouth to me before labels actually put money into it)
connections is the only reason a distribution deal with universal they will be able to guarantee placement on front pages and biggest playlists etc (Universal has their hand and own a piece of everything) my publishing company runs independently through Kobalt
I agree artist should focus on the actual music but in his words earlier it’s a business and we need to make a profit in a year not beat around the bush for a few years because everything goes fast
by that time that happens the artist buzz will have died down. everything he said makes sense it’s just a moral thing with me
and I apologize to if I made you feel like I was attacking back or anything it wasn’t my intentions my intentions was more so to educate and explain more of the situation
Yeah but I know for fact they fake them and they do it because of the same reason people on this forum say they’re gonna boost their pages with fake followers. They do it because they don’t know better and that’s actually why I got into social media marketing because my dad manages and has work with some big artist in the industry and he was telling me about how nobody gets smm when it comes to the music niche and hiphop and so I’m off to start like a digital service agency for artist.
Most media outlets are now savvy to fake engagement. Journalist will just skip over any pitch for coverage in favor of bands that appear to have a real natural following. Though that goes out the window when you get a follow up email thats like “please premiere this this video for us, here is $800.00”
And Billie is indeed an industry plant. I’m not saying she is not talented, but its insane at how much it cost to produce one of her songs.
She gets blank checks for advertising and PR and the lable makes major bank on her image. Get ready folks, because you’re going to be seeing her face on everything from The Simpsons to C-Span.
The reason, there is no other demographic on this planet that is more dogmatic, vicious, and easily influenced than tween / teen girls. And they want their parents to spend. And don’t even get me started on K-pop.
Exactly my feeling about this, these scouters/agents don’t really care about what’s good for the artist, they’re in it for their own money, big red flag. They deploy these smoke & mirrors tactics because it boosts numbers. Sadly these numbers are more irrelevant than ever, since everyone is faking numbers.
I could go more in depth about my take on the music industry with you, but mainly it’s just fueled by my belief that MOST managers are doing it wrong, because they don’t care enough to do the right thing.
Universal (and others) lost their place as the gatekeepers, since artists can now reach their fans directly.
Obviously most artists don’t have the time to learn every other skill needed to market themselves, and prefer to focus on the music.
I think that there’s a growing market for independent labels, with digital only, where you don’t need to give Universal half of your earnings (or more in most cases).
There’s nothing wrong with an artist taking a year or two doing music without turning it into his main income.
He can work a normal job and put the extra hours into the music. It’s honestly better for them than getting into bed with Universal/Warner/Sony who’ll just use your creativity for profit.
I like your morals on this and I’m hopeful that you decide to do what’s right for the creators (you included).
This industry has leeched off the artists for so long, turning them into money-making machines that get dumped once the trend has passed.
I honestly think that I’ll create my own digital label at some point and put my money into it, because of how dirty the industry plays with artists. They had the excuse when you couldn’t print and distribute the records, but nowadays they barely have anything of value to offer.
I didn’t want to debate about Billie’s talent, just how culturally relevant she is for her demographic.
Same thing with the mumble rappers, their talent isn’t what made them big, I’m not debating that.
Korea is known for having their government spending money directly into exporting their culture to the US. That phenomenon is probably having every American label rethinking how they do Social Media, fandoms and branding, if I had to guess.
The second time, I couldn’t be bothered to explain and teach instagram to someone, so the new video was good enough and resolved the points the OP and others in this thread were having. The video even goes into the OP’s exact topic of record labels manipulation.
Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O’Connell with such a name success is certain.
Just kidding, she’s definitely got talent and probably also put in a lot of hard work since she was 11, that’s when she started writing songs according to wikipedia.
That’s 5 years of being in a enviroment full of musicians and people from the entertainment industry in LA …I mean, one cannot hit the honey pot more. Either that or you go freaking insane.
EDIT:
By the way, image you have a well established network in that sector and location…It’s like M/S on steroids. Instead of shoutouts and tags you get news articles and interviews
Don’t forget label’s are humans too, but the difference we are trying making living of this. Big label’s they do it in bigger scale, the have the money, people and power. Couple of thousands of dollars and they make millions with contract’s, example they invest 10k to increase engagement, algorithm does the rest. After months this small singer/band whatever can fill stadium’s sell a lot album’s etc
I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s that easy for them to sell out things IRL because lol pump for example he has so many IG followers then can’t even sell 20k first week of album release, and he performs at venues where other artists are at - he can’t really sell out shows like an indie producer (signed to a label tho) like Russ who can sellout the staples center which is insane…
All I’m trying to say is that yes producers have a bunch of money and can increase engagement and fake influence but when it comes down to it content is always king
That’s why they don’t sign everyone, the only sign the best of the best in their eyes, I sad that in a away, obviously some don’t fill houses but they make a lot of profit label’s are very bad organization, now one guy can put their music’s on YouTube and blow yup, label’s they need to make sure it a good music creator, very good, they don’t bet their money. Nowadays social Prof is the best making money method compared to decade’s ago… Our grandparents they gave theirs lives with their body, we just create social prof, learn from the algorithm and do a lot of moneyyy. Label’s can have power but they need to play with the same rules has ours, abusing or not abusing the algorithm is the away for success
I can say with 100% confidence that record labels purchase views on YouTube for music videos. The C-tier and D-tier artists purchase fake bot views, whereas the B-tier artists purchase a combination of fake bot views and real views from YouTube advertising. A-tier artists like Taylor Swift don’t purchase views anymore, but they used to.
