More Astroturphing Sightings

A piece we wrote last week on Paul Young’s Anti-Astroturphing  Campaign – the practice of creating buzz by creating the appearance of buzz – led to some interesting connections (as blogging often does) and some examples of abuse of PR in the music industry.  (What a surprise !)

Hypebot has written about UK musician Sandi Thom before and at times we’ve even supported her.  Last month the Independent UK took a n in depth look at Thom and the "new PR" techniques of the music industry.  Conclusions: 1) the internet provides a plethora of new opportunities for hype-abuse 2) if the music isn’t good phony buzz won’t save it. 

Blogger John Cass also pointed us to a story in the Tennessean about how the fan club of country singer Cheryl Wright used volunteers to call radio stations requesting airtime her “The Bumper of My SUV”. Some even lied about their family’s involvement in the military to "help" the patriotic song gain attention. Industry insiders know these practices are all too common.

Perhaps we should start handing out awards for the most flagrant astroturphing violations. Got any nominations?