[PATREON PREVIEW] Is Geese a Psyop? How the Music Industry Fakes Virality

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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 AI-generated music begins to top the iTunes charts, the line between authentic talent and engineered "slop" continues to blur. We discuss the truth behind the Geese situation, the evolution of viral marketing, and how the music industry is changing in the age of automation.

We discuss:

How viral music campaigns actually work

Why “industry plant” accusations keep happening

How platforms like TikTok shape what you hear

Whether AI artists could be the next big thing