International News
Presets & Cut Copy do the US
Having both come off triumphant Australian tours, Modular stars Cut Copy and The... [more]
Send Event To A Friend
I <3 This
Print this page
If you’re an aspiring musician, producer, DJ or band looking to promote yourself online, no doubt one of the most conventional first steps to take is that of setting up a MySpace page. Take heed, however, as a disturbing new trend has emerged that well and truly eclipses the complete visual eye-sore of most MySpace pages in general (seriously, those colours don’t match and all those pics and YouTube embeds are making my computer melt!)
Last month Wired blog Listening Post blew the whistle on a company called TuneBoom Pro, revealing they’d been shopping around their service of falsely boosting the number of plays an artist receives on their MySpace page. For $147 you could get an extra 1K plays added to your tally, $417 for 5K, or if you wanted to go the whole hog $747 for 300K additional counterfeit plays.
Bizarrely, a rep from TuneBoom Pro was only too happy to talk with Listening Post, telling them all about how they’d been doing this with major labels for quite some time. “We have worked exclusively for the majors up until about a year ago when we offered our services to the independent artist and labels. We have also been involved in A&R and promo for the majors for many years and continue to do so.”
A few weeks after the story broke, TuneBoom Pro mysteriously disappeared offline. Offering such a ridiculously unethical service, it’s hardly a surprise, but perhaps even more worrying is the fact that Wired have since uncovered more than 40 other websites that offer a similar option to aspiring MySpace superstars.
Every day we’ll receive press releases from labels and artists proudly talking up their rank on various MySpace charts, so with the opportunity to manipulate these figures easily obtainable it’s definitely got us thinking twice about an artist’s genuine popularity and profile. Do you pay much attention to the number of friends or plays an artist has received on MySpace?
CABANA BOY says...
no.
sammond says...
I don't c a point in buyin plays/friends! its quality not quantity for sure! I view ppl talkin up their plays/friends as I do in real life - if they bother talking something like that up they're insecure and full of shite!
Danni_A says...
I dont really pay to much attention, except when someone trys to add u and u have no idea who they are and they have some ridiculous amount of contacts like some guy that tried to add me and has 1027 contacts on myspace. How could u possibly know that many ppl in real life??
mohair says...
what's myspace?
amanda fantastique says...
when haven't record labels said silly things to sell records
w8_2008 says...
lol myspace...i thought they closed that lame-sick-joke of a "website" down! I pay attention to artists in the most reliable realm of opinion and rank: my own musical taste.
katie liz says...
i think that this "outrage" over the fake plays is unneccessary beacause people should judge the band and its music by listening to the music not wasting time counting the number of plays a song may have. i certainly dont look at play counts, people like different things so this has no relevance to me. i thinks its sad that a band feels the need to do such a thing. and who cares if someone is smart enough to create something that will let idiots pay them a quick buck.
djbricksta says...
yes.
robotech says...
Myspace is a last resort for information about an artist - if wikipedia doesn't have it AND google lets me down then and only then will I resort to myspace.
LukeElectrik says...
I do.... as a way of comparing.... or a way of inspiration. It pushes me to do better.... and that cant be wrong. Although stat padding and boosting ur hits unfairly has got to have its draw backs..... and its morally wrong too
technopasta says...
Only the quality of the music matters. I don't care if you have a text-only site! That might even make me like your band more.
Torm3nt says...
This is one of the worst articles I've seen relating to music and just proves that it's all about popularity rather than actual sound and quality, which is a real shame. If it sounds good, I'll listen and/or buy their album. If it doesn't, I won't. WTF does the number of plays have to do with anything!? wtf is wrong with people... /rant
Bognashavin says...
Anyone who beleive any of those figures is naive at best. I don't know anyone who pays attention to them unless they are a local band and were talking double digit figures only. friends reccommendations or what i hear count 50 billion times more than any rubbish play figure - it's the same as the alleged record sales charst it's all rigged, rigged, rigged.
dlabz says...
Who cares how many people listen to their music or how many friends they have, I wouldn't even be looking at their page if I didn't like the music. Numbers would never let me judge my musical tastes
am_tejano says...
thats is riped off. when i check out aritist myspace page i always check out how many plays a person has to determine whether there good or not. usually the amount of plays , relfects the talent of thr artist. talk about corruption in the music industrie lol
emlynwakg says...
I do sometimes think damn, how'd they get that many listens in a day, but after reading this blog I may never believe the play count again. Do the superstar musicians need to feed their ego any further?
mashlee666 says...
I do how funny, did myspace allow this?
singstar says...
Well i agree that artists shouldnt be using boosters to gain attention in the music industry and stand out.. but even if they do BUY into those gadgets it doesnt matter how many plays they have because people will only buy music that they love.. and if the artist is any good they should be able to build a fan base based on their music and not on how many people have looked at their their myspace page.. in saying that.. I have a myspace page with my music and i think overall i have received around 20k listens to everything i have on there including radio interviews and songs, however this over almost a year.. i havent used boosters and will never because i would only be cheating myself but dont think that everyone who has a decent listens number has fudged it. some people dont like myspace and personally i can understand why but if your an unsigned artist you gotta do what u gotta do in order to get heard. and u gotta respect that. :)
turkman says...
imagine you accidentally gave the wrong myspace address and it was actually a music page, there goes your cash!! hahaha
Ethereal1 says...
wow how low do people go, man the should just let ppl listen for themselves, if not then don't make music at all
DJ_LG says...
why do we need websites and computer programs to tell us how many friends we have?
Metavirus says...
Serious I've never cared about any charts. I like music I like and I like to share that with people. Who really cares how many plays you have on Myspace? Record companies have been rigging charts for ages in different ways, why would it not continue online?
Metavirus says...
Serious I've never cared about any charts. I like music I like and I like to share that with people. Who really cares how many plays you have on Myspace? Record companies have been rigging charts for ages in different ways, why would it not continue online?
Metavirus says...
Serious I've never cared about any charts. I like music I like and I like to share that with people. Who really cares how many plays you have on Myspace? Record companies have been rigging charts for ages in different ways, why would it not continue online?
Metavirus says...
Serious I've never cared about any charts. I like music I like and I like to share that with people. Who really cares how many plays you have on Myspace? Record companies have been rigging charts for ages in different ways, why would it not continue online?
Marky says...
There's a certain point where you just ignore the numbers. I don't really pay much attention to play counts for bands signed to major labels. But it is interesting to compare play counts for small local bands, bands you know with a fair degree of certainty are not a) wealthy or b) desperate enough to pay for play count boosting. This article just helps uncover how dirty the music industry really is. Courtesy of greed and money-lust, nothing is sacred anymore. Not even something as essentially beautiful as music. Pretty sad.
DANCINGDI says...
I'm amazed that anyone thinks myspace and facebook are factual. !! But the words that stuck out for were Major Labels. these are the labels that sue their competition rather than give us a the services we want or a choice.!!
Vociferous says...
As a producer/collaborator for independent artist AREA 27, http://www.myspace.com/area27music I would advise any indie artists to avoid any website or app that inflates the number of plays/friends or automatically adds friends. It’s debatable whether or not the effect or perception of an industry person checking out your page would be positive or negative but that’s not the point… Surely as an artist it’s far more important to know that MySpace users on your friensdlist may actually be listening to your music. It’s only through their comments and repeat visits that you can establish which people are genuinely interested in your music or may become fans and this is much easier to manage when you are somewhat selective about friend requests you accept or send out. We have had a MySpace profile for AREA 27 for well over 3 years now and really stepped up the activity since June 2006; when we released our debut CD. On principal we have never used any automated friend adding applications or websites that promise to multiply hits or plays. In the initial stages we were adding friends at a radpid rate and accepted all friend requests without so much as a glance at their profile. We no longer do this and realize that it was not the best approach. I’m not suggesting that all our MySpace friends are now fans but we are reducing the number of friends that added us just to boost numbers. When friend requests come in and their profile is promoting a business that’s not music related or the profile appears fake we deny the friend requests. I’ve often posted bulletins urging artists and other MySpace users not to use such sites
ELLLENNNN says...
i only check the number of plays to have a guide so what im more likely to find what im looking for. if i wanted to find artists at the fuetus stage, wouldnt i be going to gigs for them