[PATREON PREVIEW] Record Labels Are Buying Meme Pages for Millions

[PATREON PREVIEW] Record Labels Are Buying Meme Pages for Millions

From Taylor Lorenz’s Power User by Taylor Lorenz

April 27, 2026 · 7 min

About this episode

The episode discusses the intersection of the music industry and social media manipulation, focusing on the controversy surrounding the band Geese and the role of meme pages in viral marketing.

[PATREON PREVIEW] Is Geese a Psyop? How the Music Industry Fakes Virality Subscribe to my Patreon to get this and other bonus Power User podcast episodes!! Support my independent journalism: 🙏 Patreon: ⁠ https://www.patreon.com/cw/taylorlorenz ⁠ 🗞️ Buy a paid subscription to my Substack: ⁠ https://www.usermag.co The Brooklyn band Geese has sparked a massive "industry plant" controversy in 2026 after their album Getting Killed and a sold-out tour led to accusations of being a digital "psyop". While the music has received mainstream praise, fans became suspicious of how the band took over social media feeds almost overnight. This skepticism intensified after an interview at SXSW with Chaotic Good Projects, a marketing agency that uses armies of bots and TikTok accounts to force songs into virality. Kristin Robinson is a journalist at Billboard who broke the story about Geese and Chaotic Good Projects. She joins me to discuss how meme pages are used by the music industry, how record labels manipulate online conversations and flood comment sections with positive messages, and how agencies can sway public perception of performances on SNL or Tiny Desk. As…

People in this episode

Host: Taylor Lorenz

Guest: Kristin Robinson

Topics covered

  • music industry
  • viral marketing
  • social media manipulation
  • meme pages
  • AI-generated music
  • public perception

Keywords

  • Geese
  • viral campaigns
  • music industry
  • social media
  • AI music
  • Chaotic Good Projects
  • SXSW
  • meme pages

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Billboard, Chaotic Good Projects

Products: iTunes

Books & works: Getting Killed

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