Trend Simulation: Music Marketing's Fake Authenticity Crisis

The marketing firm Chaotic Good Projects has sparked controversy by bragging about its ability to make musicians go viral through "trend simulation"—paying social media accounts to post fake endorsements. In a Billboard interview, founders Jesse Coren and Andrew Spelman described an "arms race" for volume, running 20 to 25 pages per artist. Their clients include Justin Bieber, Dua Lipa, Alex Warren, Sombr, Mk.Gee, and Oklou. The band Geese became a flash point after Wired speculated their success was a "psyop." Spelman claimed credit for popularizing "pastel talk" videos—cozy, DIY-seeming clips that soundtrack folk singers. The practice exploits the lowercase pop era's intimate, tossed-off sensibility, which artists like Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo, and Charli XCX exemplify. Trend simulation is a modern twist on historical tactics like 19th-century opera claques and Tin Pan Alley pluggers. The backlash echoes past credibility crises, from payola to the "Disco sucks" movement. Spelman admitted marketing cannot make people like bad music. The controversy has deepened distrust in online culture, as listeners question what is real.