Is buying followers, views and likes smart ?

  • Thread starter Thread starter OliverPractice
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A couple of my friends and I were friends with a guy who did this and we were pretty upset with him because of it. As artists ourselves, we felt that it took the legitimacy away from his presentation of the artwork and him as an artist. However, the only reason we even knew he did this was because we were close to him.

I understand why he did it though. The average YouTube viewer doesn't know he bought the views. Other artists buy views all the time (industry and independent). And it helps promotion, as he can advertise "this has over 5000 YouTube views within the first day, thanks everybody, I really appreciate it," - ultimately making other people who haven't watched the video believe that it must be really amazing... and so on.

However, even to this day, we still have an uneasy feeling about it.
 
OliverPractice said:
If you have a huge internet fanbase = record salles. According to oyur theory everybody that ever got signed to a major already had an album out on an indie or on their own.

Another example top of my head ; Chief Kief - song "I don't like goes viral" = shows, interviews, radioplay = contract.


Justin Bieber - contract based on youtube videos.
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I've been the CEO of an independent record label for years and I only offer contracts to those who are extremely active, work well with other, can manage their responsibilities or has some who manages for them. I've never offered a contract to someone based on the statistics they bring me. This is the way it works, artists show me their music/statistics and I conduct my own research from there. They really try to convince me to sign them after I've already said no, as if they have some magic words to convince me to change my mind. Truthfully, I turn down most artists because they're not ready for the business side of music.

The information I've written here isn't theory. Theory's are for internet trolls who claim to be experts when they don't have any experience. The crave the online attention, which is why the troll in the first place. Personally, I don't if you know who I am or not because I'm not here for fans. I'm here to find business professionals to work with on future releases. However, feel free to believe labels are business ignorant and they'll give money to anyone who has a ton of followers. Artists must sell music before they get a record deal from me or anyone other label I know. Truthfully, the purpose of obtaining a record deal is for access to the resources and connections that label has in order to develop sales and make money. Believe what you want though, I didn't respond to the thread to prove or disprove anything. However, if you really want to test this scenario out, buy a hundred thousand followers, views or whatever, and go to a label for a deal. These services can be purchased for the same cost as a kids weekly allowance.

Sales are track through companies like Soundscan or Tunecore. Followers and sales are to completely different subjects because a sale can only happen when money is exchanged, otherwise it's all just talk. We care about the money and resources we offered to artists and must generate profit from the releases they're apart of. If we don't generate profits, we go out of business.
 
I say, why not pay? Record companies pay big bucks for promotion. As a matter of fact, advertising budgets rival R&D budgets of some companies.

A company does not necessarily need a big idea. Innovation is not necessary to get rich or even stay rich. Companies do better by successfully executing ordinary ideas over and over and over again.
 
JC name the names of the labels you've been a CEO of and how many CD's did your artists sell ? I saw like 100 CEO's on facebook who probably didn't sell 100 cd's but just founded their label and worked with a few friends.

Your take doesn't make sense to me cause looking at wikipedia 95% of artists did not have inde releases before their major contract so by that they didn't have salles to show for to proove they are profitable. I might be missing something, but what.
 
OliverPractice said:
I'm pretty sure if you hit a legit 500 000 views on your video and let's say 50 000 downlaods on your mixtape a label deal will be offered, if everything else is in order too with you as artist.

You get discovered because you are very good and get a deal

or

you make yourself HOT and get a deal

am I right ?
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The actual views don't mean much by themselves, you are placing too much emphasis on the wrong thing, the views could be real or fake it doesn't mater because views don't directly generate traffic, they are a statistical indication of traffic. Sure those statistics might get you to the top of some chart but if your not using those statistics to secure a more aggressive marketing position like getting on the radio then you are just pulling your dick.

The statistics don't have any outward projection that is going to start funneling people or record executives to your music, I mean in order to know how many views you have a person must already be looking at you.
 
Here's a New York Times blog article on the subject for anyone interested in learning more about buying followers.

OliverPractice said:
JC name the names of the labels you've been a CEO of and how many CD's did your artists sell ? I saw like 100 CEO's on facebook who probably didn't sell 100 cd's but just founded their label and worked with a few friends.

Your take doesn't make sense to me cause looking at wikipedia 95% of artists did not have Yourinde releases before their major contract so by that they didn't have salles to show for to proove they are profitable. I might be missing something, but what.
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Seriously, if you don't believe me, try it yourself. Get some money together, go buy followers and hunt for a record deal. What are you waiting for if that's what it takes, huh?

You're telling me that 95% of artists don't released music independently, or on their own, and get million dollar record deals. How was the research of this wiki article arranged and carried out? How can this be true when there are so many people trying to get others to listen to, or download their mixtape? Why would major labels sign artists who've never performed live or release a song, and has a million followers? Although you don't need an independent record deal to get the attention of major labels, an independent buzz is required. Major labels check the local, national and international status of musicians before offering contracts. They continue to monitor those statuses after a contract is sign.

OliverPractice said:
I saw like 100 CEO's on facebook who probably didn't sell 100 cd's but just founded their label and worked with a few friends.
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Yeah, I'm sure you did; this is the whole reason labels consider music sales and performance attendance along with followers, likes and views before offering contracts.

Most labels are created by groups of friends who want to make and release music whether it's their own or another person's. And your right, most independent labels fail to sell units and/or merchandise. Sales is a career field that a lot of people fail in; mostly, because they don't know how or have a desire to sell units. Major labels do their homework before investing money into artists or projects, everyone knows that. Those who don't know or understand should do the research by starting with the links at the end of this post. Buying twitter followers has it's advantages and disadvantages depending on the goal a person has when making the purchase. Therefore, if your goal is to sell music, it's best to have real followers who desire musical content rather than fake or inactive followers who do nothing.


Here are the links:

Craig Kanalley: Study on How to Get More Twitter Followers: Be Positive, Informative
Fake Twitter Followers: An Easy and Dangerous Game
The Underground Twitter Economy: Buying And Selling Followers [INFOGRAPHIC] - AllTwitter
The Twitter Underground Economy: A Blooming Business
 
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they have sites if they really want to check.. but we're producers I doubt they care how many views a beat gets on youtube / soundclick etc .. sometimes the views / follower amount goes back to normal... I heard rappers do that on youtube and labels do it too.. but if the music isn't good... your wasting peoples time
 
A would advise against buying likes because there are quite a few situations where you can have too many likes and not enough sales to back up the traffic causing you to have a lower conversion rate
 
I need to start coming to these forums a little bit more.
Great conversation.

I see what the OP was saying.
My answer or take on this is moderation.

You do want to promote your music to an extent. The 2% rule in business still applies even in this climate.
However, you do not want to go overboard with exaggerated numbers (buys) either.
To develop a target audience (cult following), you have to find out who takes interest first.
Find out where your threshold is for what YOU think is proper promotions and buys and go from there.

The bottom line is...

work both angles (social media promotional buys in MODERATION (Less if possible) with boots on the ground with GENUINE MARKETING (more if possible).
 
I 'bought' extra page views for a social network I built in the hope it would boost organic search. All it actually did was skew the true amount of visitors so I couldn't rely on my stats any longer.

Go for the long game. Earn your listeners and fans, it will be far more rewarding in the long run.
 
In my personal opinion from experience NO. I bought twitter followers and within one week i had 10000 followers which seemed amazing, but it was just noise. My feed was filled with idiots. racist, homophobic, sexist wack assed bullshit random anoying tweets from 10000 ppl (because u have to follow them back as well) . i got a handfull of attention on my mixes etc that i tweeted but only one or 2. its all noise. targeting is impossible on a huge scale like that. someone who likes producers or djs is also following a million other producers and djs and u get lost.
Also bought plays on soundcloud, and i got 1000 plays on my track which looked amazing but totally transparent to anyone in the industry because there were no COMMENTS on the track, only listens. a blank soundcloud wave with 1000 listens looks like all these ppl listened and didnt like it enough to comment.
so i gotta agree with others who said it has to be organic. ppl moniter that stuff if its super important, and it looks so lame. i agree with paying someone to get your music out to ppl and letting them decide but i dont agree with faking that ppl like you or your music.
 
djcozmic said:
In my personal opinion from experience NO. I bought twitter followers and within one week i had 10000 followers which seemed amazing, but it was just noise. My feed was filled with idiots. racist, homophobic, sexist wack assed bullshit random anoying tweets from 10000 ppl (because u have to follow them back as well) . i got a handfull of attention on my mixes etc that i tweeted but only one or 2. its all noise. targeting is impossible on a huge scale like that. someone who likes producers or djs is also following a million other producers and djs and u get lost.
Also bought plays on soundcloud, and i got 1000 plays on my track which looked amazing but totally transparent to anyone in the industry because there were no COMMENTS on the track, only listens. a blank soundcloud wave with 1000 listens looks like all these ppl listened and didnt like it enough to comment.
so i gotta agree with others who said it has to be organic. ppl moniter that stuff if its super important, and it looks so lame. i agree with paying someone to get your music out to ppl and letting them decide but i dont agree with faking that ppl like you or your music.
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there you go . close this thread and sticky it
 
I think buying views and likes works in making people BELIEVE your work is good. if your work is actually good, then it can go a very long way in getting new fans. it depends where your ethics are and also whether you think you're "ready to blow up". for certain acts and artists that have been toiling for a very long time, if they were to do it, it'd benefit them in different ways than a 16 year old kid who has made one decent experimental song and stole his parents credit card. he doesn't have the depth or portfolio to truly capitalize on the attention.

at the end of the day, I think people really are sheep and they believe that something is good because it's popular. and popularity nowadays is views, likes & upvotes, not how many friends you have in real life. but friends in real life come to gigs. :)
 
Like others have said, organic likes, fans, follows, etc... Are the ones you really want. Whats the point in 100000 hits on your page if theres no engagement or sales generated from them.

That said, if you do have a decent genuine following, a few hundered/thousand extra hits to pad your stats can make you look good.
 
street ninja said:
Like others have said, organic likes, fans, follows, etc... Are the ones you really want. Whats the point in 100000 hits on your page if theres no engagement or sales generated from them.

That said, if you do have a decent genuine following, a few hundered/thousand extra hits to pad your stats can make you look good.
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That's what I take from it, I think I'll just go for the lwoest number of buys possible so it just blends in naturaly, just a boost.
 
It works. There are many services online, but not all are good ones. Some of them spin bots. You need to look for a service with real followers like this one. Ideally, you should still do the optimization of your channel.
 
I disagree, buying followers is a horrible idea. As soon as viewers find out your credibility is destroyed. There's no shortcuts in life. Also its an analytics headache. Have some pride and work hard.
 
Wasn't there a thread on here a while ago called something like 'how do I unbuy followers?'. Might be worth searching that out to find out why the producer found it had been a bad idea
 
no man don't lie, buying followers and plays is the worst idea ever. what is the point of that? so you can look like your music is doing well? lmao
 
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