Fake fans, fake buzz? How your favourite band got big – podcast
Shaad D’Souza explains how bands such as Geese have faced a backlash since a marketing company revealed its tricks for pushing them into the limelight, and Eamonn Forde discusses what it takes to succeed in the music industry today.
Discovering new music you love can feel like unearthing treasure. So when fans flocked to Geese in the last year and made their frontman, Cameron Winter, the most talked-about indie star of the moment, it felt like a genuine rush of emotion and connection. They ruled the end-of-year lists. Their tours sold out. A big deal for a group whose members were barely born the last time New York bands were cool.
But when fans heard a podcast interview with two marketing executives talking about how they created a buzz around the bands they worked with, a backlash ensued. The culture journalist Shaad D’Souza explains why music lovers felt so angry, and the music business and technology reporter Eamonn Forde tells Nosheen Iqbal why bands’ publicity machines feel they need to take such extreme tactics to break through.
