In late 2025, everyone was asking, “have you heard about Geese?” Given the latest internet controversy, a more annoying question has emerged: “Have you heard about how you heard about Geese?”
The indie band, described by this blog as “probably a little overhyped,” blew up with their album Getting Killed. I thought it was very good, one of the best of the year, even. But why? Well, it turns out, because I am not immune to marketing and I fell for a “narrative campaign.”
At the centre of the controversy is the marketing firm Chaotic Good. In a Billboard interview, the founders discussed how they get artists to go viral by essentially running fake fan accounts on TikTok. Andrew Spelman said of his firm’s work, “all we do at Chaotic Good is look what happens organically and then do it inorganically at scale.” Singer-songwriter Eliza McLamb wrote a response about what this means for musicians today that linked Geese to the company and set the internet on fire.
I found McLamb’s take reasonable and even-handed, informed by her perspective as a working musician. It is not a hit piece by any stretch of the imagination. Her disappointment is apparent, but it’s a disappointment more at the state of the attention economy than at Geese, or any band that would seek such services.
The internet was less understanding. People felt betrayed, and anger was the dominant emotion, no doubt spurred by the coverage that insisted on referring to this as a “psyop” for some reason. (The same reason one would contact Chaotic Good, actually: to get your attention.)
The idea that an indie band paid some guys with 50+ cellphones to generate hype via TikTok does not fit with the stories we tell ourselves about how bands get big. You know how it goes. An artist toils in obscurity, playing for a handful of fans who can see the vision. That is, until the fateful day they “get discovered.”
This all played out in early April, and by now has settled. Which is good, because now we can reflect. For starters, I doubt that narrative about bands getting big through sheer hard work was ever really true. Also, I don’t want it to be. It’s absurd to ask artists to undergo an ascetic ritual of poverty while playing the fame lottery. I’d prefer we implement a basic income for artists like Ireland has. But I guess thousands of TikTok accounts would be easier to set up.
We should also acknowledge that there’s nothing new about circumventing the struggling artist narrative through marketing. In Episode 171 of the podcast Darknet Diaries, Andrew Batey discussed the work his marketing company did in the mid-2000s. They used tactics that host Jack Rhysider refers to as “grey hat.” That means they weren’t illegal but were contrary to the Terms of Service. For instance, they got YouTube music videos to play on mute in the background of people’s browsers, racking up enough views to go viral. Back then, that meant getting featured on the home page.
It’s shady, like Chaotic Good’s work. But, as Batey put it, “you basically had to have good content that people liked or not, but pretty quickly it was evident; you either went viral or you were trash and you were removed quite quickly.” If the music sucked, you were out of luck.
Music taste dies in darkness
I also want to reflect on what this firehose of content means for fans. Particularly those of us who don’t want our taste to be so easily influenced. Much of the coverage has come from tech publications like Wired and music blogs like Consequence of Sound. Accordingly, it has focused on the business and music industry ramifications rather than what it means for our playlists and year-end wrapped posts.
I think you’re in good shape if you’re thinking about this at all. Chaotic Good’s work relies on your passivity. If you care enough to be upset by this, then you’re also the kind of person who is going to move forward questioning every overly positive post, out-of-context clip, and flood of eerily similar comments. You were never the person this stuff would work on in the first place.
Chaotic Good’s tactics also rely, one would think, on our collective ignorance. Batey, the Darknet Diaries guest, also touched on this: “The hardest thing was trying to continue to perform, because then […] everyone starts copying you, and then you have to find a new way.” Now that everyone knows about narrative and user-generated content campaigns, a ton of marketers are going to try running them. That sounds like a nightmare, but the resultant torrent of slop will likely serve to dilute everything, rendering these tactics ineffective.
There’s no need to wait for that outcome, though. You can do so much to shape your own music taste and avoid these sorts of influencing campaigns. I’ve complained about it in the past, but checking out album reviews in music blogs is a great, if time-consuming, way to come across new artists. It is also extremely unpopular, so marketers are not likely to ruin it. It’s as simple as scrolling until something catches your eye, then looking it up on Bandcamp to listen.
If you can’t stomach reading a blog (how did you make it to this paragraph??) or if that just doesn’t sound like your thing, no problem. Go follow some music content creators on your social media site of choice. Find a few whose taste you trust, then see what they recommend. I’ve greatly expanded my tastes this way, and I now spend less time on blogs because of it.
But the most anti-algorithm way to find new music is the old punk rock mantra: support your local scene. Check out venues near you and see what bands play there. Then, go to those shows. Your presence will mean so much to those artists, members of your community. If you don’t live close to any venues, pick a nearby city, look up its venues, and cyberstalk the bands on the bill. Stream or buy their albums, follow their socials, and be the organic engagement they need.
And hey, maybe you’ll decide to become chaotic good in the Dungeons and Dragons sense of the term. There’s no reason you can’t spin up 50 TikTok accounts and blow up every post your favourite local artist makes. Just make sure you buy the cellphones on sale so you don’t bankrupt yourself financially as well as morally.