Ah mate this stuff is wild. Some of the campaigns my mates are getting companies to run for electronic artists. Labels really have (as they always do) found a way to hack virality / shares etc. in a easy low effort way with this model
Maybe low lift is a better fit. Getting an artist to the point where they find their thing, keep doing it multiple times a day etc.. I see them and artists really struggling with that. Maybe these accounts are a good work around to create a metric : song uses / shares. maybe it buys more time and looks good up the ladder, and maybe value to steaming / catalog is still a win in short term for the label.. but not the artist I guess
The proliferation of burner accounts is largely off the back of certain quite big artists using them very effectively to quickly push out large quantities of live content almost contemporaneously with the shows themselves. It's highly algorithmic and has worked really well for some BUT you're right that it won't work sustainably for most. Possibly you've seen the same retainer quotes for agency run accounts that I have? Those are way out of budget for most artists. The only application I can think of for burner accounts is to be able to publish content that artists don't mind being used but wouldn't want to publish themselves due to either aesthetic/creative boundaries around their official accounts. In that case I think there's a valid use in that content which artists/artist teams are making or commissioning can be used and fans get to see unvarnished video they wouldn't otherwise see. Eventually AI will probably be able to make all of this stuff without the artist even doing the gig, won't that be great.
I think one issue we see constantly in music is that people follow the person in front. That means that in time, everyone is setting up fan burner accounts "because that's what you do". So at some point you'll see lower tier acts trying to do this, potentially panicking because they can't.
In terms of agency quotes... I can't comment but I'm happy to compare - in private, of course!
I think you make a fair point re use of burner accounts to share content that wouldn't otherwise be posted by the band, but maybe a counter point is that one could be managing a closer community of fans who double as influencers, and then sharing this content to them. It would cost nothing (they're fans after all - happy to share the footage) and would also move us away from this slightly grim new direction in social engagement.
You're right about the AI platforms to do this for you. Welcome to our Brave New World... 🙄
Have to admit had no idea about any of this. Pretty sad though. Darren I would recommend Idlewild's latest album It was my fave of 2025 and it is fantastic. So is Tableau by The Orielles, from 2023.
Ah mate this stuff is wild. Some of the campaigns my mates are getting companies to run for electronic artists. Labels really have (as they always do) found a way to hack virality / shares etc. in a easy low effort way with this model
Low effort but surprisingly high cost, IMO. Feels like money that could be spend far more wisely elsewhere.
Maybe low lift is a better fit. Getting an artist to the point where they find their thing, keep doing it multiple times a day etc.. I see them and artists really struggling with that. Maybe these accounts are a good work around to create a metric : song uses / shares. maybe it buys more time and looks good up the ladder, and maybe value to steaming / catalog is still a win in short term for the label.. but not the artist I guess
Thanks for your thoughts.
Always grateful to read your notes.
Great informative post!! Cheers.
Fantastic article. Connection is everything ❤️
The proliferation of burner accounts is largely off the back of certain quite big artists using them very effectively to quickly push out large quantities of live content almost contemporaneously with the shows themselves. It's highly algorithmic and has worked really well for some BUT you're right that it won't work sustainably for most. Possibly you've seen the same retainer quotes for agency run accounts that I have? Those are way out of budget for most artists. The only application I can think of for burner accounts is to be able to publish content that artists don't mind being used but wouldn't want to publish themselves due to either aesthetic/creative boundaries around their official accounts. In that case I think there's a valid use in that content which artists/artist teams are making or commissioning can be used and fans get to see unvarnished video they wouldn't otherwise see. Eventually AI will probably be able to make all of this stuff without the artist even doing the gig, won't that be great.
I think one issue we see constantly in music is that people follow the person in front. That means that in time, everyone is setting up fan burner accounts "because that's what you do". So at some point you'll see lower tier acts trying to do this, potentially panicking because they can't.
In terms of agency quotes... I can't comment but I'm happy to compare - in private, of course!
I think you make a fair point re use of burner accounts to share content that wouldn't otherwise be posted by the band, but maybe a counter point is that one could be managing a closer community of fans who double as influencers, and then sharing this content to them. It would cost nothing (they're fans after all - happy to share the footage) and would also move us away from this slightly grim new direction in social engagement.
You're right about the AI platforms to do this for you. Welcome to our Brave New World... 🙄
Have to admit had no idea about any of this. Pretty sad though. Darren I would recommend Idlewild's latest album It was my fave of 2025 and it is fantastic. So is Tableau by The Orielles, from 2023.