The New Industry Plant

Are you an industry plant? >> [music] >> I admit it, you know, it's just a long time coming, you know. You know what? The answer is just it's it's no. >> Every few months the music industry gives us a new industry plant, or at least according to the internet. One year was 4 bats, another year was Ice Spice, one year was Chance the Rapper, Jack Harlow, and so many other artists before them got the same label. And at this point, I think we've officially reached the point where the term industry plant has lost all of its meaning. I mean, let's be real. If an artist blows up, industry plant. If the label looks like they're spending money, industry plant. If they have a good rollout, industry plant. And if that artist even breathes too confidently, then believe it or not, they're going to get accused of being an industry plant. And if you're a part of the 40% of artists who subscribe to this channel, then just know that if your next release does well, people are definitely going to call you an industry plant, too. So, congratulations in advance. But after doing my deep dive and looking into Miss Tram's story, I don't think that we've actually been asking the right questions about industry plants. Let me explain. But before I do, if you're enjoying the channel, make sure you hit that subscribe button. It helps us reach more artists, and apparently that's all you need to be considered an industry plant these days. So, if anybody from a major label is watching, feel free to plant us whenever you feel ready. And let's get back into the video. So, when I first saw people calling Miss Tram an industry plant, I'll be real, I completely understood why. To a lot of people, it felt like one day they didn't know who she was, and then seemingly overnight, she was everywhere. She's getting big features, she's at festivals, major creators are promoting and reacting to her music. She's popping up all over social media, even celebrities are jokingly asking her if she's an industry plant or not. And I get it, from the outside looking in, it almost feels too perfect. So, I started to look into her story, and not because I wanted to prove that she was or wasn't an industry plant, but because I realized something. I've heard this same conversation over and over and over again. Every time an artist breaks through, the internet seems convinced that they know exactly what an industry plant is, Which made me stop and ask, do we even know what that phrase means anymore? Because depending on who you ask, you'll get a completely different answer. >> To even be in the industry back in the day before the internet, you had to be an industry plant. So, an industry plant is somebody who is planted in the public to the public eye by the industry. >> Yeah. >> You know, when you start seeing new artists, you're like, where this person come from? And you find out they've been signed for 6 years and they've been really marketed the whole time behind the scenes. That's kind of what they mean by industry plant. But it's like, that was the only option like before the internet. >> So, Russ actually gives a really good definition of an industry plant. And I think he said something even more important there. Now, he isn't necessarily saying that every artist was an industry plant, but he is pointing out that if we use the internet's definition of an industry plant today, then almost every successful artist of any generation basically qualify for it. Because before social media, going through the industry wasn't unusual. It was basically the only path. There wasn't a TikTok, there wasn't a YouTube, there wasn't an Instagram. And if you wanted your music in front of millions of people, then you definitely needed a label. So, if that's true, maybe the problem isn't the artist. Maybe it's the definition. Which then made me wonder, how does the music industry define what an industry plant is? And funny enough, someone at Billboard answered that exact question. >> One of the things that's always cracked me up about the industry plant conversation, which I think we should all put to rest, but alas, um is that typically when you accuse an artist of being an industry plant, they're an artist, she's been grinding their ass off for probably years without you noticing, and now they have a label, and the label is actually doing their job. >> Now, here's what's interesting about that definition, and it's that it doesn't really focus on deception. It focuses on resources and marketing and development and overall support from the team that the artist entrusted their career to. And that's when I started to realize that the internet and the music industry aren't even having the same conversation. One side is talking about authenticity, while the other side is talking about infrastructure. And those are two completely different conversations. So, before I could figure out which side was right, I wanted to get an answer to something else first. If Miss Trim really came out of nowhere, then there shouldn't be any evidence that she existed before the moment that she's having now, right? Right? Well, funny enough, Jack Harlow had a pretty interesting response to the last time that he was accused of being an industry plant. >> That's why anytime I see my name associated with anything like industry plant, like it makes me so proud to really be able to say that I everyone in the game right now, like one of the furthest from it. Like I I I didn't skip any steps, bro. Like I did steps none of these kids did, like yeah, I talk about it on the records, but I did open mics, I did South by Southwest, I did A3C, I did showcases with no one there. I did my first tour, I went to Madison, Wisconsin, did a bar with eight people in it, like I felt those feelings of not being the guy Yeah. Bravado on record, but then I'm going to find I'm not the guy, like I felt all I did this. >> Yeah, yeah. >> Well, yeah, it's like you said, once it starts to once you're there in this bubble, and if people didn't see any of that, they're like, "Where'd he come from?" Well, he just got it dropped in his lap. >> So, Jack Harlow just said something that might be the most important statement of this video thus far. People confuse the first time that they discover an artist with the beginning of that artist's career, and those just aren't the same thing. Most artists don't become successful overnight, they just become overnight discovered. And there is a huge difference. So, naturally, that made me more curious about Miss Trim. Did she really just appear out of thin air, or did the rest of us just arrive late to her story? And I found the answer. Let's rewind back a few years. >> We finna turn this [ __ ] up or [music] not. Look, yo, I've been thinking about taking this perc. What up, pills? I'll be putting in work. What up, my [ __ ] He pass me the perc. I don't care he got gum in his mouth, he's licking my skirt. They say, "Can you talk your Chachi, where you from, and what you bang? >> [ __ ] I be right downtown, [ __ ] boy. What you saying? You could call me Gala Geach. Man, these hoes can't [ __ ] with me. Had to cut my Gala off cuz she was tripping off that weed. Tried to switch the flow, but this is what y'all like. I understand. I won't turn off my location. Y'all can catch me in that set. Miss Triniti turned my switch. She really >> Now, does having old videos of TikTok freestyles or being a part of a local cypher automatically disprove that Miss Triniti is an industry plant? No, but it does prove one thing. She didn't just appear out of nowhere. She was already making music. She was already performing locally, and she was already trying to put herself out there and build an audience. Which brings us back to something I said earlier, which is that people confuse the first time that they discover an artist with the beginning of that artist's career, and those are not the same thing. And honestly, the more I research for this topic, the more I realize that Miss Triniti just had a normal artist breakout. She was building locally. She was building online until a label that liked her discovered her and decided to invest their time, energy, and resources into making her bigger. And for a lot of artists, that's the modern dream. How can I use what I have around me and the internet to help me get discovered by people who can take me further? And then I realized something else. We've hit a point where we treat artist development like it's a bad thing. When in reality, it's been a part of the music industry for forever. >> You announced that you signed with Top Dawg. >> Yeah. >> Can you talk a bit more about how this process started for you and like what advice you would give to artists considering a label partnership? >> To figure out who you are before you go cuz like I I was lucky enough to go through artist development and have a label that was patient with me and really was like big on like go figure out what you're doing. It's always better to have what you're doing together and not like have too many outside influences, so you're like true to yourself. Cuz people will come and like [ __ ] up what you got going on and you don't want that. >> What do you feel like was one of the most important things that you learned during that development stage? >> I would say the most important thing I learned was to listen to myself. >> Now, I love this clip because she uses some words that are very scary to a lot of artists, lucky and patient. She doesn't describe artist development like it's guaranteed, but rather like something that she knows that she was lucky to receive. Almost like artist development is becoming rare, which is interesting because while there are artists who are saying that they're grateful for the development that they've received from their labels and from the industry, there are people inside of the industry who are saying that artist development is disappearing altogether. >> agree with that? Do you think like the space that we in in music today, rap music in particular, artist development is is not a thing? >> I feel like the climate that we in makes artist development a little bit more difficult to execute because everything so instant, microwaveable, like streaming and consumption. If a [ __ ] tell you a song is hot, you can sit back and see if it's really hot within a week, right? We can check the consumption on the trends. We We can check your Google Trends, yeah. So, you know, with that being said, with with the gratification being instantaneous, we no longer have the the the luxury of um taking a record and seeing [clears throat] uh taking an artist in and seeing uh the artist proposition grow and evolve. Like this ain't 1994. We can't sit in the studio with Craig Mack and see how long it take, you know what I'm saying, to put the record together. Well, like imagine when Diddy and them was coming out with them Jodeci records and the Mary J. Blige records and [ __ ] like that in the '90s, like you talking about sitting with an artist, developing the records, putting them in the studio, teaching them how to dance, getting the whole routine coming. So, by the time the album comes out, it's like Tori's hitting XYZ. >> Right. >> 18 to 24 months building up to this point before you ever even heard a record, maybe even longer. We don't have the luxury of doing that no more because the industry moves so quick. If I see something and I like it, we got to move quickly because we got to seize the moment and capture it. Hopefully, it's something that's going to last, but if not, what if it was something that was just going to be a really dope single? You would have missed your moment. >> Right. >> So, labels no longer have the time to sit back and wait for every single thing that passes by. >> So, that clip started to completely change how I thought about this conversation. Cuz if artist development is disappearing, then why do people keep accusing artists of being industry plants? Shouldn't there be less development and less industry plants? If we keep hearing that labels want a finished product and labels don't want to sit around and develop these new acts, then wouldn't that mean that the artists that we do see blow up were probably artists that did a good amount of work themselves. I don't know, that's just something to think about. But then I came across this next clip, and this one made things start clicking even further. >> Seems like the way it's going, that there are few labels that are willing to spend money in artist development, and they're mostly looking for a finished product or a near finished product. Is that the case? >> I hate to give you a lawyerly answer, but I have to say that it depends. I think there are parts of a whole, and the labels see everything as pieces of the puzzle. It's a pyramid. You can't have a label full of developing artists. You need to have one big legacy act that's going to keep the lights on. You're going to need to sign several trending popcorn type TikTok things to have short bursts and influxes of cash, and then to maintain your credibility, so to speak, as a label and and be able to say that you are a curator of artists, you're going to sign those diamonds in the rough that you are willing to wait 3 to 5 years to be something. And in terms of just my own client base, everything is really seasonal and cyclical. I will have people reach out to me and say, "We're not looking for anything that's off the rails expensive. We want to plant seeds and build roots. Do you have somebody that could use a little work because we're looking to get into a more curated sound." Other times it's, "Okay, we see how many creates your artist in this region is doing. What's it going to take to put it off the table and and come on the inside?" So, it really depends on the needs and it depends on the label. Some companies and some executives are more dedicated to artist development and some executives are more dedicated towards building a business. And neither is wrong, it's just a matter of where you fit it. >> I ain't going to lie, y'all. That might have been one of the most important clips in this video cuz I think it reveals something that most artists never get to see. Labels don't just sign an artist, they manage a portfolio of artists. Some artists keep the lights on, some artists are just quick wins, and then some artists are long-term bets. And the reason that's important is because it reveals something. Not every artist receives the same level of development. I mean, really think about it and put yourself in the shoes of a label executive or a label owner. You don't have unlimited money or unlimited staff or unlimited time or unlimited resources. So, every rollout, marketing dollar, meeting, and conversation is an investment, which means that whether an artist gets 6 months of development or 6 weeks really comes down to one thing. How much conviction does the label have in that artist? And honestly, that was a hard lesson for me to learn while I was working at Def Jam. And it really did surprise me to learn that labels don't believe in every artist equally. And as I got more seasoned, I realized that they can't. And it's not because they hate artists, but it's because resources are limited. So, naturally, the more people inside of a building that believe in that artist, the more that artist got attention and resources and overall development. And that doesn't mean that the other artists weren't talented or not worth believing in. It just means that labels are constantly making bets, and some bets get more chips pushed in. And honestly, that's why I started to think that a lot of this industry plant conversation starts to get blurred. Cuz from the outside, two artists can sign to the exact same label and still have completely different career outcome. One artist could get a massive rollout, while the other artist barely even gets mentioned. And the audience would see the successful artist and assume that something fake happens. But sometimes, what they're really seeing is the label making a bigger bet. Now, does that mean that labels always get their bets right? Absolutely not. Some of the biggest artists in the world got passed on, and some of the biggest budget artists ended up becoming flops. I mean, we've seen it all throughout history. Labels guess wrong all the time. But here's where things get even more interesting. Cuz even if a label believes in you, that still doesn't explain why artists seem to appear everywhere all at once. How does someone go from being relatively unknown to suddenly being unavoidable? And that's where modern marketing enters the conversation. And I think that this is where the audience starts to confuse marketing with manufacturing. So, let's look at it this way, right? If artist development explains how an artist can get prepared, then marketing explains why it suddenly feels like that artist came out of nowhere. Because here's the thing, right? Like, most artists don't just suddenly wake up one day and find themselves on everybody's explore page. There are entire campaigns designed by music marketing experts to make music feel unavoidable. >> Recently, I've seen rumblings in the music industry around artists being industry plants or sci-ops. A more specific example is the rise of the band Geese, an indie band from Brooklyn who've been getting a ton of buzz lately. The group has performed on SNL, Tiny Desk, Coachella, Primavera Sound, and a massive sold-out North American and European tour following their highly praised 2025 album getting killed. They were first formed in 2016, but they have had nowhere near this massive amount of success that they've been having lately. Personally, I kept seeing them everywhere and I was like, "Why does everyone already know this band? What am I missing out on, you know?" Clips on TikTok and Reels flooded feeds, listeners started to take notice, and critics started to like what they were hearing. Then, a couple months into the year, the first bomb was dropped. Musician and writer Eliza McLamb uploaded a Substack article titled fake fans, in which she exposed a strange connection. It was between Geese and their frontman Cameron Winter and the digital marketing firm Chaotic Good Projects, whose entire goal was to market Geese, amongst others, in a rather unconventional way. Chaotic Good's game plan included the innovative use of social media networks to create a wave of artificial fandom, appearing as real fans. They used Geese songs to back social posts, shared live footage of the band performing, both of which are pretty normal. These are things you'll see quite often in the music industry. But, what was interesting to me was that they also used burner accounts to swirl fan discourse. I found a spreadsheet with a list of alleged fan page accounts used to promote artists or create narratives, and I don't know how many of these are actually from Chaotic Good, but they're probably similar to what a lot of these fake accounts look like. A lot of these TikTok pages were also deleted, maybe to try to keep the operation under wraps. They aren't doing a really great job, though, cuz I found a Threads post where they said, "If 100 people think your song sucks, Chaotic Good will create 200 people who think your song is awesome." They also had something on their website that they took down called narrative campaigns, which I can imagine is them having these fan pages create discussions or narratives in favor of the artists that are hiring them. So, through the distribution of clips and others online seeing this inorganic discourse about Geese, views were generated, and with views came a notable and growing buzz, forcing the algorithm to treat this sensation as organic, and so it did. Then, suddenly, the fake audiences, fake discourse, and fake narratives became real. >> Now, before we go any further, I want to make one thing clear. I'm not showing you this because I think that strategy is evil. I'm not showing you this because I think that artist shouldn't market themselves. I'm showing you this because most artists have never seen what modern music marketing looks like. I mean, you guys know I'm a marketer myself and I believe in get it by any means necessary and do what you got to do. And I've experienced in my personal life that when most artists hear the word marketing, they think about a billboard or an Instagram ad or maybe like a Four Shooters Only performance and a magazine interview. But what a lot of them don't picture is dozens of niche accounts working together. I'm talking about fan pages, reaction pages, clipping pages, meme pages, and influencer posts all working together to push one song. And once you understand that pipeline, an artist doesn't look like they suddenly came out of nowhere anymore. But instead, they start to look like someone is building awareness around this. And there is a difference and honestly, that difference matters. And look, honestly I get it, right? Like I get the average artist perspective on modern music marketing. Because if you've never seen the machine or been explained to how the machine works, then the machine does look fake, which is why I love hearing LaRussell explain the machine from an independent artist perspective. >> I'm going to blow the whistle on the industry real quick. And the industry is two forms of marketing that's used heavily. It's seeding and it's clipping. Whenever you see Academics, Say Cheese, Rap Bars, etc. all posting the same thing around the same time with the same narrative, that's a seeding campaign. It means someone gave them a budget and some content and a narrative to spread to the world. >> This is modern music marketing, not magic. Or maybe the magic of modern music marketing. Think about how many songs you've discovered because somebody clipped a funny podcast or added the song to a funny meme or stitched it onto another video or made an edit or reacted to it. A lot of the times none of that is happening by accident and there is a strategy behind it. And I personally love where a lot of music marketing has gone today because a lot of the pieces to these strategies are attainable by most artists. I mean to be real, if you have a decent size budget, you have a good song, you have a good piece of content, then any artist really could enact these same strategies that these industry plants are doing. And I think that once you understand that, you stop asking how did this artist come out of nowhere and you start asking who built the infrastructure that introduced me to this artist. Which, ironically, brings us to the sponsor of this video. Three of the biggest advantages that major labels have are infrastructure, relationships, and marketing systems. Basically, people who know where to send music to get it discovered. Now, I know that a lot of independent artists don't have that and they don't have access to some big marketing agency that they can spend a lot of money on. And that's exactly why we built Placement. Instead of spending hours researching and trying to figure out who posts your type of music, Placement helps you discover performance platforms, blog pages, reaction channels, and media platforms that already cover artists like you. Because the goal isn't to manufacture the illusion of success, but it's to give independent artists access to marketing infrastructure so they can create real success. And if you want to check it out, click the link below this video to start your free 7-day trial. Now, let's get back into the video. Now, there is still something that really bothers me about the industry plant conversation. Because if marketing explains why artists suddenly seem unavoidable, then what about the artists who are actually heavily backed by labels? Surely, that has to happen sometimes, right? Well, it does. And you'll be surprised to learn that it doesn't always work out. >> no [ __ ] bro. This is going to sound crazy to a lot of y'all [ __ ] but I used to be an industry plant. >> [music] >> No cap, I'm not no more, but I used to be a industry plant type experiment plant. I'm a failed industry plant. No cap. And y'all [ __ ] might be thinking I'm lying. I'mma show y'all. I'mma show y'all this [ __ ] Look at my Spotify. Look at this [ __ ] Look at Look at all these streams. >> [music] >> Look at all these streams. I'm not capping. I used to be experiment plant, industry plant, whatever, but it didn't work out. But basically, a lot of y'all [ __ ] are like, y'all looking at this [ __ ] like, "Who Who is you?" I'mma tell y'all off rip. That's exactly what the industry is going for. The industry is picking up [ __ ] off the net who have a platform, some type of platform, >> [music] >> and they're starting to pose them as content creators, organic content creators, but the label is masking their music presence and covering it up with a online persona, a content creator, a streamer, a YouTuber. A lot of these [ __ ] streaming, you don't know. I wouldn't even say all of them. They are in deals. They are in long-term deals to gather a fanbase, creating content to sell y'all music. The industry is shifting to this content creator streamer narrative now. And if you don't believe me, search up Ski Mask the Slump God. Search exactly what he's doing. You going to search this [ __ ] up on YouTube. Search him up on YouTube and tell me what you see. Not saying he on payroll to make content and try to, you know, pose as a content creator now, streamer [ __ ] He might just be doing it for fun. But a lot of the industry [ __ ] is going to start [music] doing that. They're going to start posing as content creators and streamers. Not saying it's a bad thing, but it's taking away from the [ __ ] who are trying to do it organically. These [ __ ] are funded by labels. >> Now, that clip genuinely fascinates me and frustrates me at the same time. Because I really do think a lot of artists try to hide behind this veil of everything needs to be organic as an excuse for them not wanting to invest money into their career or go out and do some of the hard work that it takes to break through the noise. Because if every artist truly believes in everything needing to be organic, which is a whole 'nother thing in itself, then we would see thousands of artists every single day walking down the streets handing out CDs, meeting people hand to hand. And how many of you know artists that don't even like to leave the house? And I really do think that a lot of artists have this misconception about what organic growth means. You can still get organic growth from paid marketing. Let's say, for example, I'm an artist and I pay to get my music posted on saycheese. If I acquire you as a fan and you go tell four of your friends about my music because you love it, then I paid to receive you as a fan, but I got your friends organically. That's how this whole thing works. But, I do think that Crimson points out something very important. Labels absolutely try to manufacture stars through different ways. And sometimes, they'll develop an act, they'll spend a [ __ ] ton of money, they'll get a lot of playlists, they'll get the artist hella big features, and they'll build these massive campaigns, and that [ __ ] still doesn't work. Which tells me something and should tell artists a very important lesson. Marketing can get you seen by people, but marketing can't make people love you. And if it could, then every label artist or every rich kid that tries to be a rapper would be Drake by the end of the week. Or we would see every single label rollout work or see every single industry bet pay off. But, the reality is that we don't, and that's obviously not what happened. Some artists with tiny budgets end up to go on and become superstars, while some artists with massive budgets end up disappearing. Because eventually, the audience still gets to vote. And at the end of the day, the people decide who they want to continue to support and uplift. And I think that's the part that we forget or that artists love to gloss over when they're talking about these quote-unquote industry plants. Which actually led me to one final realization. I don't actually think the biggest disagreement is about industry plants. And I think that we as a base are arguing about something else entirely. I think that one group is arguing about is this artist authentic, while another group is arguing is this fair. And on the surface, those can sound like the same question, but they're not. Authenticity asks, are they pretending to be something that they're not? While fairness asks, did that artist receive opportunities that most artists would never get? Once again, those are two completely different conversations. And here's the reality, right? An artist can be completely authentic, while also still having incredible advantages over most artists. That artist can have an experienced manager or a great marketing team or a label that believes in them. They can also have the big budget and the industry relationships and none of that automatically makes them fake. It just means that the starting line isn't the same for every single artist. And honestly, I think that's what most artists are reacting to when they talk about industry plants. Not authenticity, but advantage. Cuz if we're being honest, most artists aren't frustrated at the fact that labels market their artists. They're frustrated at the fact that they aren't receiving those same opportunities. Or they're frustrated because they feel like they don't have access to the same tools as those artists. And to be real, when I hear the conversation come up, whether that be online or in real life, to me it just exposes that that artist has a shoulda been me syndrome. And look, I get it. It doesn't always feel fair, but calling another artist an industry plant doesn't solve the problem. Learning how artists are actually getting discovered in modern times, however, does. And once you understand the infrastructure and the strategies behind artist discovery, then suddenly success doesn't feel like magic. Cuz you'll start to see the systems and the relationships and the timing and the development of narratives and everything behind the artist. Which brings us back to Miss Trimm. When I started researching her, I thought I was trying to answer one question. Is she an industry plant? But I don't actually think that that's the interesting question anymore. The more interesting question is, what did the rest of us not see? Cuz after looking at the old performances or looking at the old freestyles or going back and looking at all of her releases before she got signed, I generally don't think that Miss Trimm just appeared overnight. But what I do think happened is that most of us feel like we discovered her overnight. And once again, those two things aren't the same thing. Will there always be artists who get opportunities that most artists will never get? Absolutely. I mean, just to be real, that's just a part of business, you know what I'm saying? You got to have thick skin to it. But here's the funny part and in my head, the great equalizer. Even after all of the money, all of the infrastructure, all of the system. At the end of the day, the audience still chooses who they like. Because if they didn't, then every single artist with a major label deal and a million-dollar budget would be a superstar. And we know that that isn't true, and we know that that's not happening anytime soon. So, maybe instead of asking, "Is this artist an industry plant?" the better question is, "What infrastructure helped me discover this artist?" Because once you understand that, then the music industry starts making a lot more sense. And if you're trying to understand more about how this side of the music industry works, then consider becoming a member of the channel today. That'll get you early access to content like this, and get you access to future exclusive artist breakdowns. So, that sounds like something you'd enjoy, then hit the join button below. And look, overall, this is just my opinion, and I know that the industry plant conversation is going to go on until the world end. So, instead of beating a dead horse, I'll leave you guys with this. When you hear someone call an artist an industry plant, what's the first question you ask yourself? Is it A, are they actually fake? Or is it B, did they just have better infrastructure than everybody else? Let me know your thoughts in the comment section below. Other than that, if you like this video, make sure you hit the like button, subscribe, share this with the artists that need a little bit of gain today. My name is Corey, and I'll see y'all next time.