The Growing Scrutiny Over Covert Fan Accounts in Music Marketing

There are thousands of pages on TikTok and Instagram that look like ordinary fan accounts, posting edits, memes, and concert videos. But behind the scenes, they are often run by paid marketers, agencies, or the artist's own team. In 2026, this practice became a massive public scandal following a Billboard interview, a Wired article, and the controversy surrounding the band Geese. The main question now is: where does normal marketing end and cheating begin?

The Case That Started It All: @sombrfans On October 7, 2026, journalist Lucy Harbron published an article about a supposed fan page for American artist sombr, called @sombrfans. The page posted concert videos and emotional crowd reactions. However, many of these videos were shot from the photo pit right in front of the stage—an area restricted to press and photographers only. In some shots, the person filming was standing right next to the artist. Fans on Reddit began to suspect that the artist's team was secretly running the page. While there is no definitive proof, sources note that sombr is a client of the marketing agency Chaotic Good Projects.

Official vs. Hidden Fan Pages Artists working with their fanbases is completely normal. Taylor Swift's @taylornation and Olivia Rodrigo's @livieshq are openly run by their teams, organizing contests and giveaways. Sabrina Carpenter's official fan page has over 13.5 million followers on TikTok alone. There is no issue here because fans know exactly who they are dealing with. The problem arises when smaller artists try to fake their popularity by creating hidden, anonymous fan pages. Social media manager Briony Graham-Rudd notes that handling socials for small artists nowadays often includes managing these "fake" fan accounts.

How the Scheme Works

• Vibe Pages: Creators make themed pages (like 90s nostalgia) and put an artist's new song over the video. People watch it without realizing it's an ad.

• Themed Edits: Agencies create fan pages for popular TV shows and post video edits featuring their clients' music. This helps the song get stuck in people's heads and tricks the algorithm.

• Networks of Pages: Many agencies own ready-made networks of accounts that they use to create artificial engagement.

• Clipping: Labels pay different pages to use a specific song in their videos. According to OpusClip, the standard rate is about $1,000 for a million views. Since it looks like regular fan content, it's hard to tell it's paid.

• Comment Seeding: This is the worst method. Agencies use networks of fake accounts to leave comments and steer public discussions in a certain direction.

The Chaotic Good Scandal Chaotic Good Projects is a US agency that openly admitted to using a method called "trend simulation" in a Billboard interview. The idea is to create so much artificial content and reaction that the algorithm gets tricked into thinking the song is already a huge hit. They reportedly used thousands of fake accounts and an office full of iPhones to do this. Their client list included the band Geese, sombr, and others.

What the Law Says Running a fan page is not illegal, but hidden advertising and fake accounts are.

• In the US, buying or selling fake metrics and followers is banned by the FTC.

• In the UK, hidden promoted reviews can result in heavy fines.

• TikTok strictly requires paid content to have a disclosure label, otherwise, the video can be restricted or removed.

At the end of the day, trust is everything. If fans find out they are being tricked, the artist's reputation takes a massive hit.