Editorial: DJs aren’t buying followers and fans because they don’t have to
The controversial photo seen above has been making the rounds on Facebook and Twitter recently, indicating that some of the most popular DJs / EDM artists on the planet are “buying” influence on social media websites. MixMag was first to report on the issue, with an article entitled “Are top DJs buying Facebook fans?” The general consensus is that these artists (among others) are paying money to services that promise to increase the number of Facebook fans or Twitter followers, presumably to make DJs seem more important, influential, or otherwise notable. Here’s the thing, though: They don’t have to.
We’ve avoided the issue for the past few weeks on Dancing Astronaut because there’s simply too much red tape and too much conjecture, and not nearly enough of the cold, hard facts. I don’t feel comfortable accusing artists of such questionable tactics without confirming it with them personally (or at least reaching out for comment). And quite honestly, it’s not nearly as nefarious as the mudslingers on Twitter would like you to believe. Keep reading to find out why.
First of all, let’s get one thing out of the way. Having Mexico City as the most popular city in the past week is not an indicator of having purchased fake fans. Excision, one of the artists included in the graphic, noted that Mexico City has an “extremely fast growing scene” and that promoters are going all-out to spread names and sell tickets. Sebastian Ingrosso also chimed in on Twitter, declaring that he gets 25 Tweets a day imploring him to come to Mexico (and maybe even inviting us to go with him). Excision also explains the logic of Facebook’s display ad system, and how his relatively high bids can outweigh lower alternatives, providing an explanation for Mexico’s high rank. (Also here are two fun facts courtesy of Wikipedia: Mexico City is the most populous city in North America, and the fifteenth in the world.)
that they bought follower it just mean that Mexico City loves them!!! I personally get more then 25 tweets a day saying come @dancingastro
— Sebastian Ingrosso (@SebIngrosso) May 29, 2012
Next, it’s important to remember that while most DJs do control their own accounts and maintain their own presence, there are other people with access. We work with many social media-oriented PR firms on a daily basis, and you’ll often see at least a few Tweets with “[MGMT]” over the course of a day if you follow enough people. At some point in the last five years, Twitter followers and Facebook fan counts became an easy way to “rank” people or compare status, and having more is obviously better than having less. Isn’t it possible that someone at a PR firm, record label, or even management company might have “bought followers” for them? To me it seems unlikely that David Guetta is sitting at his computer searching for companies to purchase Twitter followers — but maybe I’m crazy. (I did like his UMF set, after all.)
The graphic at the top of this editorial certainly has its flaws, but there is evidence to suggest that there is some funny business going on in the industry. Top Dee Jays has a tool to track follow counts, fan counts, and similar stats on a daily basis, and there are definite cases where massive spikes amid generally slow, even growth can raise questions. (Nicky Romero was pretty vocal about this on Facebook and Twitter a couple of weeks back, and you can see an example in the photo above.) However, I don’t feel comfortable enough to accuse any DJ of purchasing followers without asking first, and again, it’s very possible that this is happening without the artist themselves having any knowledge of it whatsoever.
At the end of the day, as many people articulated to us on Twitter, “You can buy followers, but you can’t buy talent (or influence).” In a statement to Dancing Astronaut, Ash Pournouri, director of AtNight Management which is responsible for Avicii and CAZZETTE, said that “we never bought anyone as we have no need to.” He went on to ask “What would we do with them? Sell them in 5 years for double the price?!” Sebastian Ingrosso also wrote that “all of those that are accused are extremely talented and have millions of fans, so whats [sic] the problem?”2/2 and we never even bought ads cause of the same reason. Social should be 100% organic but we are onvestigating [sic] how Mexico C[ity] could be.
1/2 Ive checked Avicii FB page and its true about Mexico C being most pop city but we’ve never wanted any1 who didnt actively chose 2 follow
— Ash Pournouri (@AshPunani) May 29, 2012
2/2 and we never even bought ads cause of the same reason. Social should be 100% organic but we are onvestigating how Mexico C could be.
— Ash Pournouri (@AshPunani) May 29, 2012
The EDM industry has benefitted immensely from the Internet, but if there’s anything that “followergate” can tell us it’s that the web can be a double-edged sword. Whether an artist is purchasing followers or not, the mere perception of being illegitimate or “fake” can ruin credibility for life. At the end of the day, however, it really doesn’t matter how many followers or fans an artist has. Reality sets in when it’s time for tickets to go on sale, tracks to be released on Beatport, or for big announcements to be made. If no one cares, no one cares. Swedish House Mafia would sell out MSG again even if they had zero Facebook fans, and that’s a fact.
I still don’t feel comfortable saying that any of the accused artists have engaged in these tactics — and that’s why this is an editorial and not a news piece. But you can be assured that if there ever is proof of monkey business (of any kind) in the music industry, Dancing Astronaut will be there just in time to cut through the bullshit and separate fact from fiction once again.
For more coverage of the accusations regarding purchasing Twitter Followers and Facebook Fans, check out MixMag’s article, InTheMix’s article, or Excision’s response on Facebook.
lol…. why did you bother wasting your time with all of this? who cares its just facebook.. at the end of the day it just matters if people like your music and how many people end up showing up at your shows..
I dont see what the big deal is honestly. Regardless if they buy fans or not, there will always be true fans of every artist. I blame DJ Sneak for this massive propaganda that is going on.
Excellent editorial; great point of view.
I can see this just being a case where the scene is blowing up bigger there than anywhere else. There are millions of people in Mexico City with a huge youth movement. With EDM being as big as it is, why is this being accused of anything suspicious? If anything, props to Mexico City for being huge supporters!
Why would you even need to purchase followers they could just pay someone to create fake emails and accounts all day.
Not that is actually happening its just feasible. I think that dance music is on an upcycle right now :)
I don’t want to say I necessarily target/blame DJ Sneak, but he is definitely somewhat responsible for all this beef flying around lately. It’s sad because all he does is come across as jealous and hateful at artists who are just flat out more popular than him. He claims it is because they are not true to the genre of house that he holds so sacred, but in the end it should be about the music, and if he’s unhappy that the public has chosen to listen to and support a certain style over his, well, that’s the way the cookie crumbles.
Sneak vs Angello. Underground vs mainstream. Hitler is dead. Santa Claus isnt real.
THE REAL TRUTH ABOUT FACEBOOK DJ CAMPAIGNS – DJS advertise on FB to expand their audience base, the more known you are the easier it becomes to interact with new audience. There are different prices for advertising on FB depending on who is the target audience, Mexico FOR EXAMPLE is x 5-10 cheaper then north america and Europe. FB campaigns in GROWING MARKETS countries will yield many more new fans for a budget, this is the main reason those list DJs have so many fans in Mexico.
Another important element that makes GM countries good for FB DJ campaign is that the audience are not advertisement saturated/savvy like N. America and Europe, they respond MUCH better to FB advertising.
My all Fem DJ Company page has 320k fans and they are ALL real fans, most of them come from growing markets in Americas & Asia.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/STADJ-ModelDJs/120339261341481?ref=ts
CheersE
I definitely think something is up here, but let’s keep in mind that Mexico City is also the biggest metropolitan area in the Western Hemisphere!
Sneak acts like a child. It’s pathetic.
Why would you buy them? because it helps inflate your perception. It’s the same thing happening over at soundcloud, where the same users are commenting on tracks over and over to have hundreds of comments in a snap! But at least these zombie bots aren’t eating off the artist’s faces: http://www.mercurynews.com/nation-world/ci_20723842/naked-man-eating-face-off-victim-killed-by
There’s a lot of crap out there on the Internet and I didn’t feel like anyone was explaining it properly, so I decided to do so myself.
one of the best pieces i’ve seen from dancingastro in a while and i’m very critical of you guys. looking at every side of the issue. i like
pauly d might buy followers
nice article! im from Mexico city and in recently time the population who like electronic music is growing so i dont think that DJ´s buying followers! C´mon they are profesionals and dont need to pay someone you like their music
People don’t seem to see the benifits of buying fans, with more facebookfans etc you show that you are desireable, and thereby you can charge more on gigs for example, not saying these people do buy their fans. But as Jacob said in the article, someone might do, and I think somebody does aswell, maybe a promoter for an event, to sell tickets, or maybe someone from their management, even though ash, for example, denies it.
fair enough
Ok so you’re saying if they have more facebook fans it gives them a chance to charge more on shows? I’m pretty sure it doesn’t work like that.. That would be a terrible way to determine prices… It all depends on how good the DJ/Producer is.. i.e. skills/production. I could make a page and buy 1,000,000 fans and I’m 100% sure i would not get booked anywhere.
I’m surprised why Skrillex has more fans than Deadmau5?
well, compare a producer with 100 000 – 300 0000 fans with a producer with 2000000 fans, If you already are recognized it might work that way. Ofcourse you won’t get any bookings if you just buy 1000000 fans, becouse thats way too obvious. And as sad as it is, you don’t book on how good the dj/producer is, you book on how popoular he/she is in relation to the crowd of the event.
great article guys!
I’m from Mexico City and I can tell you by experience that EDM is really popular here especially with young people, I like the objetivity of this article there should be more of these around here. Thumbs up if you are from Mexico City =)
Great editorial. Big ups.
who cares
This is a great editorial. Props man. This whole situation is honestly just trying to bring the EDM scene down. Its pathetic. And the whole DJ Sneak thing….. no comment. The guy is 50 years old and acts like a 12 year old.
cause people like the whomppp whompp whomppwumwumwumwum more than good music :)
How did Deadmau5 manage to get over 5 million followers? Does anyone actually like his music or just his mask?
Hey guys Firs of all im really proud of Mexico C being he most pop because its my country. But let me tell you that ive been moving inside the electronic music media here in mexico enough to say that there are no rumors about famous DJ/Producers buying fans here in fact this is the first time i hear about this rumors and thats why i love DA.Besides who cares. why is everyone surprised about mexico being the most popular city right now, these people should be interested in mexico it could be good for business and most important the EDM becoming famous around the globe with different perspectives and opportunities
not because its mexico it should be suspicious. Enjoy people and come to mexico you like our beer our Tequila and we like your websites articles and all your “earraping” enjoyable crazyass and beautiful music you all produces arround the world share with us!
PD: WE DO NOT SELL OURSELVES TO “LIKE” A FACEBOOK PAGE WE ARE NEW TO THIS MEDIA AND YOU CAN CLEARLY SEE ….WE LOVE IT.
Both
“Dancing Astronaut will be there just in time to cut through the bullshit and separate fact from fiction once again.” Typical DA
whether or not djs are buying followers, i dont know. but i assume that based on that photo, people are simply ignorant of the incredible size of Mexico City. It has more people than NYC! Not to mention that the scene probably lags America there, so many music listeners are catching on to electronic music later.
Dude, Deadmau5 is a VERY talented producer, and that’s a fact. No wonder people like his music! :-)
I don’t think “good music” is not the word you’re looking for. They’re both talented producers, so it depends on your taste in music.
3/4 of Skrillex fans are pure musically uneducated hipster 8th graders, thats why.
Either everyone is buying followers or third-world countries love first-world artists more than we do. A quick search reveals that the Biebs’ favorite city is Bangkok, despite him never even playing a show there. Sao Paulo, Brazil, apparently has the worst taste in music in the world as they sit at the forefront of Nickelback’s “likes,” and it seems Taipei loves Maroon 5.
So, either the whole system is screwed, or the third-world loves Zuckerberg’s little invention.
Now i read this, and found it pretty interesting, and I couldn’t help
but do a little research. It is quite an experience to jump into the
facebook rabbit hole. My findings were that this isn’t only taking
place in electronic dance music, but also in other popular music too.
So if you go to the artists: likes-insights, it will tell you:
the most popular days, most popular city, and most popular age group.
I found that Mexico City folk from the age of 18-24, not only like EDM,
but also other popular music. and they all like to “like”at similar
times, a popular time being the 29th of Jan 2012. (it would appear that
millions of folk must just opened accounts on that day)
these artists include:
shakira – 50million.
coldplay-20m
black eyed peas- 32m.
daft punk 6mil.
madonna – 9mil.
Christina Aguilera- 6mil.
Now before you say “hang on, these guys are popular” , I must make it
clear, that you can buy likes on most social media. If you check out
some of these set ups, it is easy to see someone who has bought likes.
Some of you should really go through their accounts to see if they
actually know everyone, otherwise you are setting yourself up to be
exploited in the near future. Some of you have already fallen victim
through tagging of products and the like.
Whats too gain? Well i have a few theories..
“Likes” have become a new status symbol, the more you have, means the
more someone might give a fuck about your product. If all those people
like it, it must be good.
Facebook now generates Billions of dollars
from advertising now. Why wouldn’t it be in their best interests to
hire people to click on stuff to generate revenue.
At the end of the day, it is one big psy-op.
So just because Ingrosso said he’s got loads of requests to go play in Mexico, we should just believe this is all just a big silly mistake from our point of view. Do you think people are that stupid?
“To me it seems unlikely that David Guetta is sitting at his computer searching for companies to purchase Twitter followers”
Excuse me if i’m wrong, but David doesn’t even produce his own tracks anymore he just takes part in the videos and approves the tracks, so I’d be amused if he does anything that has got to do with David Guetta himself (apart from “live” sets) as Guetta is now a brand name and not one person.
I’ve been following the scene for many years, and also worked closely with agents who book such DJs and I’ve got all my respect for them. But it must be said that they are doing it all for the money and little care is shown for the most important thing, music. This is heavily impacting the music scene hence why all the electrical music sounds the same nowadays, no one is creating or exploring new music.
This article is stating that such DJs do not need any extra thousand likes and do not need more extra composure as they already have it, but on the contrary they need all the exposure that they can get, as the music business is not an easy one, and one needs to work hard in it if he wants to stay in the business itself. Especially if they want to keep funding there extravagant lifestyles.
“Swedish House Mafia would sell out MSG again even if they had zero Facebook fans, and that’s a fact.” ?
Don’t bee too sure of it
:)
id like to point out that yes, in mexico there is a constantly growing edm industry but as everyone can see those are artists that are becoming popular around the world thanks to mtv and such. its the most commercial music ever, for the masses, and seems logical having a population of around 26 million in the city. i.e. bpm festival is run by canadians and lately you can see more and more american (and so) productions in the country because they know they can make money in Mexico (also its cheaper). shakira and madonna are popular within the complete mid and high classes around the country
this similar behavior appeared in the beatles’ fan page. these likes come to sense because mc cartney just played a couple of gigs in Mexico, one of them being free, paid by the government, in front of 200,000 people.
what’s seems strange to me is the likes from mexican citizens to pages as babe ruth, s !!!!! I really don’t think young ones in Mexico City are starting to follow a dead baseball player being baseball like the 4th national sport here. this is too curious to me.
Oh f’sho!
Agreed!
good article, thats what i also think :)