Kevin Kortum

Essentially, the firm creates networks of social media pages (typically on TikTok) and uses them to drive the band’s music into the recommendation algorithm. Songs are dropped into the backgrounds of videos. Live clips are shared. Sometimes, burner accounts, comments, and whole ecosystems of interactions can be fabricated out of digital cloth, stoking—and in some cases, completely manufacturing—discourse around an artist

In a perfect world we wouldn't have to resort to this to get the word out about good music, but unfortunately that's the world we live in. So I really don't have a problem with this. I mean, if their music was crap, it wouldn't matter how much they pushed it on social media—people wouldn't listen to it.

Are there some people influenced by the repetitive visibility of something? Sure. But I think the proof is in the pudding when it comes to the music and the people who actually go out to shows and spend real dollars. They're not doing that for music they don't like, but were fed constantly through the algorithms. Unfortunately, the algorithms are a necessity in today's world if you want to get the word out about something.