April 3, 2026
Your fan club might be firmware
Fake Fans
Bots in the pit: fans cry payola while artists hit delete
TLDR: A marketing firm touted making fake “fan” accounts, then quickly scrubbed parts of its site, fueling suspicions. Commenters are split between calling it modern payola and shrugging that virality is engineered anyway, with extra heat over paid fan pages and the blunt claim that a lot of art is just mid.
The internet is side‑eyeing the music biz after a Billboard profile of Chaotic Good Projects — the agency bragging about whipping up viral moments by spinning up “fake fan” accounts. Then it got spicier: within a day, the agency scrubbed its “Narrative Campaign” page and pruned some artist references, sending commenters racing to the Wayback Machine like digital detectives. The vibe? Trust is on life support.
One camp is fuming: “Modern payola,” snapped one user, arguing that authenticity is the last scarce resource and you can’t bot your way to “I was there” goosebumps. Another crew pushed a colder take: virality isn’t fate — as one reader put it, “No content is intrinsically destined for success,” so of course marketers meddle. Cue the memes: “Find the bot in this comment thread” became a drinking game, and “industry plants” jokes evolved into “industry hydroponics.”
Insiders chimed in with receipts: paying fan pages $100–$500 to post promo “is normal,” claimed one commenter — so your fave fan account might be a billboard in disguise. And then came the gut punch: “Much of human artwork is ‘mid,’” sighed another, blaming AI and oversupply. The community is split between disillusioned laughter and a rallying cry for sweaty, real-life fandom — the kind no algorithm can fake.
Key Points
- •A Billboard interview profiles Chaotic Good Projects, a marketing agency that allegedly manufactures hundreds of fake fan accounts to drive virality for artists.
- •After publication, Chaotic Good modified its website, removing the “Narrative Campaign” section and some artist references, which can be verified via the Wayback Machine.
- •Artists cited as clients of Chaotic Good Projects include Alex Warren, Sombr, Dua Lipa, Shawn Mendes, and Justin Bieber.
- •The article describes how certain music is more compatible with algorithmic platforms like TikTok, influencing mainstream breakthroughs.
- •A personal example with Cameron Winter’s “Love Takes Miles” is used to illustrate organic, fan-driven growth contrasted with manufactured tactics.