In the Algorithms
By Riley Salgado Nov. 4, 2026
The rich get richer. Well-established music artists have plenty of money for advertising they do not even need, while smaller indie artists cannot afford the promotions they need to grow.
Clipping campaigns are when record labels or agencies that need promotion hire companies to turn their songs into short social media clips. Normally, clipping campaigns are perceived as a tool for smaller artists to help them grow, but they also promote the performances of well-known superstars such as Justin Bieber.
In April, Bieber performed at Coachella before a massive crowd. Lane Brown, a features writer for New York Magazine, said that a Discord server he had monitored hosted paid campaigns for Bieber’s Coachella performances, offering clippers up to $1 per 1,000 views. Bieber’s representatives did not respond to Brown’s requests for comment on who funded the campaigns.
According to Brown,it is difficult to determine how much of Bieber’s success at Coachella was a result of the actual performances compared to the paid clips—clipping can fake the appearance of excitement to cause real people to stream and generate true buzz. When listeners cannot tell which views are real, popularity means less and artists who do not pay for these campaigns fall behind.
“If a small artist is trying to become more popular through these campaigns, then it is appropriate, but when it is the same generic, popular singer, it makes me annoyed,” Junior Kyriaki Pries said.
Similarly, music marketers often advertise songs through posts that do not look like ads. For example, X accounts that look like ordinary music fans are sometimes paid by labels or PR teams for song promotion. Cam Litchmore, a national publicist at Take Aim Media, stated these accounts are seen as trustworthy curators because of their posting style.
These paid posts sound harmful, but Litchmore claimed the accounts simply introduce music onto platforms where it has potential of drawing true enthusiasm. Introducing listeners to new music is fine, but followers trust these accounts as ordinary fans, so platforms and artists should label paid posts as ads so listeners are aware.
“I do get ads for music, but I would like to see some change in the artists that make the ads,” Sophomore Xochitl Earhart said.
Indie artists have to work a lot harder than musicians signed to labels because they manage promotion themselves; music promotion takes much more thought than simply posting a link or going viral once, per Billboard.
In August 2024, the Federal Trade Commission banned fake reviews and the buying or selling of fake views from bots, allowing the agency to seek civil penalties against knowing violators.
While promotion itself should be allowed to help artists boost their music and find recognition, fake reviews and bought interactions are corrupt, because artists are buying their success rather than truly working hard for it. Social media platforms should flag or separate content from clipping campaigns for those who do not want it on their feed. Labels can keep artists who pay for views from appearing more popular than the artists who earned it.
Music algorithms can help many indie artists gain recognition for their hard work, but already successful artists do not need to utilize clipping campaigns. This raises questions about ethics in the music industry, where the wealth of already successful artists are perpetuated while smaller artists continue to work hard for years without earning nearly as much.
About the Contributors
Riley Salgado
Staff Writer
Riley Salgado is a freshman writer for Leland High School's newspaper. Outside of school, she plays lacrosse and enjoys hanging out with friends and listening to music.
Mira Reddy
Artist
Mira Reddy is a junior at Leland High School and an artist for The Charger Account. She loves swimming, watching romcoms and spending time with friends in her free time.
Comments