Here’s an interesting NY Times article:
Warner's Tryst With Bloggers Hits Sour Note.In the week after the song was posted on Music for Robots, a message board on the site attracted some thoughtful commentary on Warner's move. But a few comments, posted under several different names, stood out because they looked like something one might read on a teen-pop fan site.
"I never heard these guys before, but theyre awesome," read a posting last Thursday under the name Ron. "I went to their website and you can listen to a lot of ther other stuff, very cool and very good!" Another post, sprinkled with casual profanity, asserted that big corporations could still release good music, and cited the Beatles as an example.
A check of site records by Mr. Willett revealed that all four of the suspect comments had been posted from the same Internet Protocol address, indicating that they came from the same computer or from a computer within the same company. That address was also the source of two e-mail messages that Ms. Bechtel sent to a reporter, as well as the original messages sent to the bloggers.
Some of the JM promoters and performers have been doing this too, particularly on the
Yahoo Jewish Music Group,although it has appeared elsewhere. I think that it’s unethical. People ought to acknowledge when they have a financial or personal interest in a given artist or project and not pretend to be fans or impartial observers.
