{"id":1886041,"date":"2026-04-16T16:38:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T13:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1886041"},"modified":"2026-04-16T16:38:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T13:38:00","slug":"if-geese-are-a-psy-op-so-is-everything-else","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1886041","title":{"rendered":"If Geese are a psy-op, so is everything else"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/892\/82-0-892-595\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/3\/1443477.jpg&#8221;]<\/p>\n<article class=\"main-article standard \">\n<div class=\"article-main-content article-wrapper has-media-but-its-an-image\" data-status=\"loaded\" data-primary-article=\"true\" data-url=\"\/music\/article\/70102\/1\/geese-psy-op-wired-chaotic-good-good-music-marketing-manipulated-for\" data-article-id=\"70102\">\n<header class=\"article-header has-landscape-image no-media\">\n<div class=\"wrapper dg-max-width\">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<figure class=\"main-img has-figcaption\" data-img-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\" data-img-aspect-ratio=\"1.77\" data-template=\"Standard Article\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"bc92b7c0-e641-11f0-8786-db2fc8f3a075\" class=\"img\" height=\"595\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/1056\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/3\/1443477.jpg\" width=\"1056\"><\/span><\/span><figcaption class=\"img-caption\"><span class=\"inner\"><span class=\"credit\">Geese promotional image<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<aside class=\"meta\">\n<div class=\"inner\"><time datetime=\"2026-04-16T16:38:00+00:00\" class=\"timestamp\" title=\"16 April 2026\"><span class=\"month\">April<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"day\" data-day=\"16\">16,<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"year\">2026<\/span><\/time><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<div class=\"titles\">\n<div class=\"tags\">\n<div class=\"sections\"><a class=\"category vertical - music\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/music\">Music<\/a><br \/>\n\/<br \/>\n<a class=\"series\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/opinion\">Opinion<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"standard-tag-container\"><a class=\"standard-category\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/music\">Music<\/a> \/<br \/>\n<a class=\"standard-series\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/opinion\">Opinion<\/a><\/div>\n<h1 class=\"title\"><span>If Geese are a psy-op, so is <span class=\"nowrap\">everything else<\/span><\/span><\/h1>\n<div class=\"standfirst\">\n<h2>The beloved rock band have come come under fire for promoting their music through algorithmic manipulation and artificial fan pages. Is this just the latest stage of music marketing, or something <span class=\"nowrap\">more sinister?<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<p><time datetime=\"2026-04-16T16:38:00+00:00\" class=\"timestamp\" title=\"16 April 2026\"><span class=\"month\">April<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"day\" data-day=\"16\">16,<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"year\">2026<\/span><\/time><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><time datetime=\"2026-04-16T16:38:00+00:00\" class=\"timestamp\" title=\"16 April 2026\"><span class=\"month\">April<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"day\" data-day=\"16\">16,<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"year\">2026<\/span><\/time><\/p>\n<div class=\"providers\">\n<div class=\"contributors\"><span class=\"contributor\" data-contributor-role=\"Text\"><span class=\"contributor-role\">Text<\/span><a class=\"contributor-name\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/user\/solomonpacemccarrick\">Solomon Pace-McCarrick<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"article-body-container\">\n<div class=\"article-body wrapper\">\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>It\u2019s nothing new for artists to be labelled industry plants, but the recent allegations that Gen Z rock band <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/geesebandnyc\/\">Geese<\/a> are a \u2018<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/geese-chaotic-good-marketing-industry-plant\/\"><span>psy-op<\/span><\/a><span>\u2019 feels different. Not only does the term imply a level of control more insidious than the major-label, industry backing that music fans have grown familiar with, but it also centres on perhaps the single most beloved band to come out in recent years. Geese had been proclaimed the voice of a generation, harking back to an analogue era of music before the reign of social media. Was that all a lie?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The allegations originated in a Billboard <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/pro\/digital-marketers-secret-tactics-viral-songs\/\"><span>interview<\/span><\/a><span> with digital marketing company Chaotic Good published last month, in which they bragged about their ability to \u201cmake impressions on anything\u201d through a fleet of agency-run fan pages and advanced algorithmic manipulation. Then came a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/substack.com\/home\/post\/p-192801490\"><span>Substack post<\/span><\/a><span> written by musician Eliza McLamb, who discovered that Chaotic Good\u2019s website listed Geese, Oklou and Mk.gee as among their many clients (Chaotic Good has allegedly since purged their website) and described their unparalleled ability to engineer artist success as \u201cunfair.\u201d The controversy finally hit the mainstream when, two days ago (April 14) <em>Wired <\/em>ran an article titled: \u201cThe Fanfare Around the Band Geese Actually Was a Psyop\u201d. Geese-gate had begun.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html-embed\">\n<div class=\"substack-post-embed\">\n<p lang=\"en-gb\">Fake Fans by eliza mclamb<\/p>\n<p>into the digital marketing agency that creates your music taste<\/p>\n<p><a data-post-link href=\"https:\/\/www.wordsfromeliza.com\/p\/fake-fans\">Read on Substack<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>Fans weren\u2019t happy \u2013 not with Chaotic Goods\u2019 practices, but rather with the insinuation that their love for Geese was anything other than genuine. \u201cPathetic \u2018journalism\u2019,\u201d \u201cclickbait,\u201d and \u201cfake news,\u201d are just some of the reactions to the Wired article that were shared with me over DM. Their anger is understandable: Geese\u2019s music has managed to captivate young people in a way that rock bands have failed to do for years, and no amount of marketing voodoo can fully account for that. \u201cI think that Geese make incredible music and would have likely had some level of success soon anyway,\u201d journalist and Geese fan Sasha Mills tells me. \u201cI attended their London show, and it had the best energy of any large-scale gig I\u2019d been to in years. For me, that\u2019s enough!\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Without a doubt,\u00a0Geese\u2019s music is widely beloved. \u201cYou can only artificially platform an artist so much if the music isn\u2019t actually good,\u201d record label marketing manager Jarvis Cooper* explains. \u201cIt\u2019s unfair that Geese have been scapegoated here because literally every single artist is using the techniques mentioned in the <em>Wired<\/em> article. That\u2019s just how the industry works. Nine times out of ten, when you click on a TikTok and hear an artist\u2019s sound being used, or follow a fan page, that\u2019s actually the label doing it.\u201d Looking at the Wikipedia page for the term \u2018industry plant\u2019 seems to confirm Cooper\u2019s experience \u2013 it reads like a Hall of Fame of \u2018who the fuck is that?\u2019, with acts like The Tramp Stamps and Raury receiving industry plant allegations in the early 2010s before fading into relative obscurity. Clearly, Geese deserve some credit.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><span>Literally every single artist is using the techniques mentioned in the Wired article. That\u2019s just how the industry works.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u2013 Jarvis Cooper* record label marketing manager<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span>Given that artists now need to compete for social media attention whether they like it or not, writer Laura Molloy suggests that hiring marketing agencies to do the dirty work might not actually be such a bad idea. \u201cThe music that Geese are making is intertwined with the idea of the artist as a mysterious, untouchable entity, so how do you maintain that in an industry where you have to be big on social media and get people\u2019s attention?\u201d she asks. \u201cI don\u2019t think [Geese using a marketing agency] is something we should necessarily be upset about, because the artist isn\u2019t forced into being a social media personality by themselves. I do think some of the mystique around them would\u2019ve been lost if they had taken the traditional social media route of trying to dance TikTok or whatever.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>One glaring issue with this new, social media-impressions-fuelled music industry is privilege. \u201cI feel like it\u2019s more fucked up for people of colour and people who come from poverty,\u201d says London-based alt-pop artist Hornet, pointing to how the significant resources needed to replicate a Geese-level marketing campaign amount to an access barrier for independent and working-class artists. <\/span><span>But it also raises the question of free will. While Cooper insists that these practices long predate the social media age \u2013 \u201c15 years ago it was PRs taking radio DJs and journalists out to dinner to secure coverage\u201d \u2013 there does seem to be something more insidious about the sorts of practices that Chaotic Good offers. It\u2019s telling, for example, that Wired chose the word \u2018psy-op\u2019 over the hitherto standard criticism against rising artists: \u2018industry plant\u2019. It speaks to an intensification of manipulation, an extra layer of duplicity in seemingly independent fan pages secretly being run by marketing agencies.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html-embed\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">as a former music publicist i can tell you these Chaotic Good guys are in a league of their own <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Ua31QWOZyU\">https:\/\/t.co\/Ua31QWOZyU<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Clayton Blaha (@FerrariJetpack) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FerrariJetpack\/status\/2044493287541645397?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 15, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script> <\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>For many, reading the recent articles about Chaotic Good spirals into a questioning of reality that is rapidly becoming second-nature in the internet age: Did I really like Geese? Did anyone really like Geese? Which other artists am I being force-fed? Even the Chaotic Good interview with Billboard raises some eyebrows: is this online shitstorm actually just another example of their industry-leading narrative manipulation? Was <em>that <\/em>the real psy-op? After all, no one had even heard of Chaotic Good five days ago.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Watching the endless discourse play out online this week, I was reminded of a particular scene in Adam Curtis\u2019 2016 documentary epic <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/iplayer\/episode\/p04b183c\/hypernormalisation\"><em><span>Hypernormalisation<\/span><\/em><\/a><span>, in which he details the centrality of media manipulation to Vladimir Putin\u2019s ironclad rule over Russia. In the film, Curtis describes how \u2018political technologist\u2019 and Putin aide Vladislav Surkov applied the principles of live theatre to governance, misdirecting the public through the funding of both anti-fascist and Neo-Nazi organisations, and even political parties that were opposed to Putin. Then, Surkov made it known that he was doing so. Putin\u2019s government \u201cundermined people\u2019s perception of the world so that they are never sure what is really happening,\u201d Curtis narrates. \u201cMeanwhile, real power was elsewhere, hidden behind a stage, exercised without anyone seeing it.\u201d Even if it was unintentional, the parallels with Geese-gate are uncanny: while internet users and media publications debated the integrity of Geese\u2019s rise, Chaotic Good\u2019s brand power was being consolidated in plain sight.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"src-youtube video-container embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"media-youtube\" data-id=\"AUiqaFIONPQ\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" allowfullscreen frameborder height=\"422\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/AUiqaFIONPQ\" webkitallowfullscreen width=\"750\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>This search for reality in a world of mirrors and marketing agencies formed a key focus of McLamb\u2019s Substack post at the start of this month. In it, she describes feeling disappointment with Geese being \u201cpropped up\u201d by the aggressive marketing campaigns usually reserved for the \u201cAlex Warrens [and] the Sombrs of this world\u201d and proceeds to question what success really looks like if streams and fanpages can be bought. \u201cI suspect that the more ubiquitous [Chaotic Good\u2019s] service becomes, the more bands will resist it, pulling back from streaming and socials altogether in favour of embracing hyper-local, scene-based methods of growth,\u201d she writes in the post\u2019s concluding paragraphs, pointing to one potential route out of this strange, marketing-led world.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>At the heart of this debate isn\u2019t whether Geese deserve to be successful, but rather how comfortable people are with being exploited in order to get them there. \u201cUnfortunately, a lot of the internet is manipulation,\u201d Chaotic Good (whose name itself suggests worthwhile ends justifying messy means) co-founder Jesse Coren told Billboard last month. This, at least, appears true, and fans now need to decide whether it\u2019s worth being manipulated to discover good music.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>* name has been changed.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"newsletter-inline-last\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-small\">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<h1 class=\"newsletter-title\">Escape the algorithm! Get The Drop<\/h1>\n<div class=\"meta-row\">\n<p class=\"meta\">Get must-see stories direct to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"confirmation\" aria-live=\"polite\">\n<p class=\"confirmation-title\">Thank you. 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class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"2_NourishedByTime_01_251210_Adidas_135SpringSt\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/480\/0-360-1999-1330\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/2\/1442943.jpg\"><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"card-latest__content\">\n<h3 class=\"card-latest__title\">Nourished by Time: \u2018Music should be fun \u2013 but it can\u2019t be fun all the time\u2019<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"newsletter-inline\" data-newsletter hidden>\n<div class=\"newsletter-small\">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<h1 class=\"newsletter-title\">Escape the algorithm! Get The Drop<\/h1>\n<div class=\"meta-row\">\n<p class=\"meta\">Get must-see stories direct to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"confirmation\" aria-live=\"polite\">\n<p class=\"confirmation-title\">Thank you. You have been subscribed<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"article-body wrapper\">\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>It\u2019s nothing new for artists to be labelled industry plants, but the recent allegations that Gen Z rock band <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/geesebandnyc\/\">Geese<\/a> are a \u2018<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/geese-chaotic-good-marketing-industry-plant\/\"><span>psy-op<\/span><\/a><span>\u2019 feels different. Not only does the term imply a level of control more insidious than the major-label, industry backing that music fans have grown familiar with, but it also centres on perhaps the single most beloved band to come out in recent years. Geese had been proclaimed the voice of a generation, harking back to an analogue era of music before the reign of social media. Was that all a lie?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The allegations originated in a Billboard <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/pro\/digital-marketers-secret-tactics-viral-songs\/\"><span>interview<\/span><\/a><span> with digital marketing company Chaotic Good published last month, in which they bragged about their ability to \u201cmake impressions on anything\u201d through a fleet of agency-run fan pages and advanced algorithmic manipulation. Then came a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/substack.com\/home\/post\/p-192801490\"><span>Substack post<\/span><\/a><span> written by musician Eliza McLamb, who discovered that Chaotic Good\u2019s website listed Geese, Oklou and Mk.gee as among their many clients (Chaotic Good has allegedly since purged their website) and described their unparalleled ability to engineer artist success as \u201cunfair.\u201d The controversy finally hit the mainstream when, two days ago (April 14) <em>Wired <\/em>ran an article titled: \u201cThe Fanfare Around the Band Geese Actually Was a Psyop\u201d. Geese-gate had begun.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html-embed\">\n<div class=\"substack-post-embed\">\n<p lang=\"en-gb\">Fake Fans by eliza mclamb<\/p>\n<p>into the digital marketing agency that creates your music taste<\/p>\n<p><a data-post-link href=\"https:\/\/www.wordsfromeliza.com\/p\/fake-fans\">Read on Substack<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>Fans weren\u2019t happy \u2013 not with Chaotic Goods\u2019 practices, but rather with the insinuation that their love for Geese was anything other than genuine. \u201cPathetic \u2018journalism\u2019,\u201d \u201cclickbait,\u201d and \u201cfake news,\u201d are just some of the reactions to the Wired article that were shared with me over DM. Their anger is understandable: Geese\u2019s music has managed to captivate young people in a way that rock bands have failed to do for years, and no amount of marketing voodoo can fully account for that. \u201cI think that Geese make incredible music and would have likely had some level of success soon anyway,\u201d journalist and Geese fan Sasha Mills tells me. \u201cI attended their London show, and it had the best energy of any large-scale gig I\u2019d been to in years. For me, that\u2019s enough!\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Without a doubt,\u00a0Geese\u2019s music is widely beloved. \u201cYou can only artificially platform an artist so much if the music isn\u2019t actually good,\u201d record label marketing manager Jarvis Cooper* explains. \u201cIt\u2019s unfair that Geese have been scapegoated here because literally every single artist is using the techniques mentioned in the <em>Wired<\/em> article. That\u2019s just how the industry works. Nine times out of ten, when you click on a TikTok and hear an artist\u2019s sound being used, or follow a fan page, that\u2019s actually the label doing it.\u201d Looking at the Wikipedia page for the term \u2018industry plant\u2019 seems to confirm Cooper\u2019s experience \u2013 it reads like a Hall of Fame of \u2018who the fuck is that?\u2019, with acts like The Tramp Stamps and Raury receiving industry plant allegations in the early 2010s before fading into relative obscurity. Clearly, Geese deserve some credit.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><span>Literally every single artist is using the techniques mentioned in the Wired article. That\u2019s just how the industry works.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u2013 Jarvis Cooper* record label marketing manager<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span>Given that artists now need to compete for social media attention whether they like it or not, writer Laura Molloy suggests that hiring marketing agencies to do the dirty work might not actually be such a bad idea. \u201cThe music that Geese are making is intertwined with the idea of the artist as a mysterious, untouchable entity, so how do you maintain that in an industry where you have to be big on social media and get people\u2019s attention?\u201d she asks. \u201cI don\u2019t think [Geese using a marketing agency] is something we should necessarily be upset about, because the artist isn\u2019t forced into being a social media personality by themselves. I do think some of the mystique around them would\u2019ve been lost if they had taken the traditional social media route of trying to dance TikTok or whatever.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>One glaring issue with this new, social media-impressions-fuelled music industry is privilege. \u201cI feel like it\u2019s more fucked up for people of colour and people who come from poverty,\u201d says London-based alt-pop artist Hornet, pointing to how the significant resources needed to replicate a Geese-level marketing campaign amount to an access barrier for independent and working-class artists. <\/span><span>But it also raises the question of free will. While Cooper insists that these practices long predate the social media age \u2013 \u201c15 years ago it was PRs taking radio DJs and journalists out to dinner to secure coverage\u201d \u2013 there does seem to be something more insidious about the sorts of practices that Chaotic Good offers. It\u2019s telling, for example, that Wired chose the word \u2018psy-op\u2019 over the hitherto standard criticism against rising artists: \u2018industry plant\u2019. It speaks to an intensification of manipulation, an extra layer of duplicity in seemingly independent fan pages secretly being run by marketing agencies.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html-embed\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">as a former music publicist i can tell you these Chaotic Good guys are in a league of their own <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Ua31QWOZyU\">https:\/\/t.co\/Ua31QWOZyU<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Clayton Blaha (@FerrariJetpack) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FerrariJetpack\/status\/2044493287541645397?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 15, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script> <\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>For many, reading the recent articles about Chaotic Good spirals into a questioning of reality that is rapidly becoming second-nature in the internet age: Did I really like Geese? Did anyone really like Geese? Which other artists am I being force-fed? Even the Chaotic Good interview with Billboard raises some eyebrows: is this online shitstorm actually just another example of their industry-leading narrative manipulation? Was <em>that <\/em>the real psy-op? After all, no one had even heard of Chaotic Good five days ago.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Watching the endless discourse play out online this week, I was reminded of a particular scene in Adam Curtis\u2019 2016 documentary epic <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/iplayer\/episode\/p04b183c\/hypernormalisation\"><em><span>Hypernormalisation<\/span><\/em><\/a><span>, in which he details the centrality of media manipulation to Vladimir Putin\u2019s ironclad rule over Russia. In the film, Curtis describes how \u2018political technologist\u2019 and Putin aide Vladislav Surkov applied the principles of live theatre to governance, misdirecting the public through the funding of both anti-fascist and Neo-Nazi organisations, and even political parties that were opposed to Putin. Then, Surkov made it known that he was doing so. Putin\u2019s government \u201cundermined people\u2019s perception of the world so that they are never sure what is really happening,\u201d Curtis narrates. \u201cMeanwhile, real power was elsewhere, hidden behind a stage, exercised without anyone seeing it.\u201d Even if it was unintentional, the parallels with Geese-gate are uncanny: while internet users and media publications debated the integrity of Geese\u2019s rise, Chaotic Good\u2019s brand power was being consolidated in plain sight.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"src-youtube video-container embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"media-youtube\" data-id=\"AUiqaFIONPQ\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" allowfullscreen frameborder height=\"422\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/AUiqaFIONPQ\" webkitallowfullscreen width=\"750\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>This search for reality in a world of mirrors and marketing agencies formed a key focus of McLamb\u2019s Substack post at the start of this month. In it, she describes feeling disappointment with Geese being \u201cpropped up\u201d by the aggressive marketing campaigns usually reserved for the \u201cAlex Warrens [and] the Sombrs of this world\u201d and proceeds to question what success really looks like if streams and fanpages can be bought. \u201cI suspect that the more ubiquitous [Chaotic Good\u2019s] service becomes, the more bands will resist it, pulling back from streaming and socials altogether in favour of embracing hyper-local, scene-based methods of growth,\u201d she writes in the post\u2019s concluding paragraphs, pointing to one potential route out of this strange, marketing-led world.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>At the heart of this debate isn\u2019t whether Geese deserve to be successful, but rather how comfortable people are with being exploited in order to get them there. \u201cUnfortunately, a lot of the internet is manipulation,\u201d Chaotic Good (whose name itself suggests worthwhile ends justifying messy means) co-founder Jesse Coren told Billboard last month. This, at least, appears true, and fans now need to decide whether it\u2019s worth being manipulated to discover good music.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>* name has been changed.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"newsletter-inline-last\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-small\">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<h1 class=\"newsletter-title\">Escape the algorithm! Get The Drop<\/h1>\n<div class=\"meta-row\">\n<p class=\"meta\">Get must-see stories direct to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"confirmation\" aria-live=\"polite\">\n<p class=\"confirmation-title\">Thank you. You have been subscribed<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>[analyse_source url=&#8221;https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/music\/article\/70102\/1\/geese-psy-op-wired-chaotic-good-good-music-marketing-manipulated-for&#8221;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/892\/82-0-892-595\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/3\/1443477.jpg&#8221;] Geese promotional image April\u00a0 16,\u00a0 2026 Music \/ Opinion Music \/ Opinion If Geese are a psy-op, so is everything else The beloved rock band have come come under fire for promoting their music through algorithmic manipulation and artificial fan pages. Is this just the latest stage of music marketing, or something [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,76],"class_list":["post-1886041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-dazeddigital-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1886041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1886041"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1886041\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1886041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1886041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1886041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}