When Julie Rajbeer wrote the lyrics for her album Confused Six years ago, it's doubtful she expected hundreds of thousands of people on X, formerly known as Twitter, to describe her as “queen“.
Rajbeer, 24, is a college student from New Jersey who has been trying to break into the music industry since she was 19 years old. Confused It was released in 2023, and she told Yahoo News that she recorded it in her bedroom. (“I've never been to a real music studio.”) As someone who grew up on the Internet, she knew that one of the cheapest ways to get noticed — perhaps by the right person — was to go viral. She was managing Taylor Swift Stan account for years and realized she just had to reach the right audience.
So she decided to pay an undisclosed amount of money Bob gets donea popular X account similar to but not affiliated with Pop Crave or Pop base, which works by publishing celebrity news and updates. The staff at Pop Crave and Pop Base are anonymous, and although there are websites associated with them, the accounts rarely post links or sources, allowing them the flexibility to Sometimes he spreads serious news.
However, Pop Tingz explained to Yahoo News via X direct messages that their account is run by one person, unlike Pop Crave or Pop Base. The person running the account did not reveal his name to Yahoo News. Pop Tingz has 165,000 followers, while Pop Crave and Pop Base each have over 1 million followers.
Pay for an upgrade
Ragbeer said it had paid for the X upgrade before. In 2019, she allegedly paid an undisclosed sum to Pop Crave for a deleted post Most recently on February 26th. In mid-February, she decided she would try again and reached out to several X accounts to promote her music. Neither Pop Crave nor Pop Base responded to a request for comment from Yahoo News.
“When you're an independent artist, you kind of have to do it [pay for promotion]“I had a very strict budget,” she told Yahoo News, adding that she paid for everything out of her own pocket. So I chose some accounts that… [didn’t] Practice, and luckily, Pop Tingz was very helpful.
Raghubir didn't feel comfortable revealing how much she paid for Pop Tingz's post. Although X Jokes about paying $5, Pop Tingz told Yahoo News that they typically charge anywhere from $100 to $500 for a promotional post. The cheaper end of the spectrum is for artists who have been promoted on Pop Tingz more than once.
The promotion has far exceeded Rajbir's expectations. She told Yahoo News she had 20 X followers when she first messaged Pop Tingz, and she It now has more than 9,000. People started to prepare Memes on HaPop Tingz's promotional tweet received more than 11 million views.
“I thought maybe I would get a few fans or a few listeners out of this and then it blew up,” Rajbeer said. “I've been messaged about a collaboration, so I'm definitely thinking about it. But I also don't want to over-release [music] At the same time.”
The person behind Pop Tingz didn't expect it either. In fact, they said they were out to promote Rajbir in the first place.
“I'm selective in my posts and don't post just anyone who pays,” they told Yahoo News. “I usually admire their work or enjoy their art. Julie just happens to be an outsider.
More up and coming artists are asking for Pop Tingz promotion
It wasn't long until Pop Tingz was inundated with requests from other young up-and-coming indie artists who wanted to ride the Ragbeer wave. Sebastian Axelberg, 19, is a music producer based in Norway who has worked on two songs for Rajbeer. You created a new X account Only to get promoted by Pop Tingz. Rajbeer described their relationship as “like Jack Antonoff and Taylor Swift.”
“We met on Twitter,” Axelberg told Yahoo News. “In 2018, I had an Ariana Grande fan page and she had a Taylor Swift fan page and that's how we met. She mentioned that she was doing music. I was like, 'Oh, I do music too.'
Akselberg said he had no idea Ragbeer was reaching out to X accounts for the promotion. He said he woke up one morning and saw several posts about Ragbeer on Reddit and X.
“I texted her and said, ‘Why are you on Reddit now?’ “It’s like, ‘Oh, you’ve gone viral,’” he said. “I think that was just a joke.”
Akselberg wanted in and sent a message to Pop Tingz as well. Akselberg did not tell Yahoo News how much he paid for the upgrade, but he sent screenshots of the PayPal receipt to verify that he paid the account.
Another young artist, Carlos Edwards, told Yahoo News that she reached out to Pop Tingz after seeing how much hype Ragbeer was getting on X. She did not reveal how much she was paid For her promotional tweet.
“I am an artist, so I will take any opportunity to promote to make people hear my art,” she said.
But lightning did strike multiple times. While Rajbir exploded online, Axelberg and Edwards saw only small bumps in followers and streams.
But despite the very modern way in which they were promoted to the masses, both Rajbir and Axelberg had very old-school signs of the success they hoped to achieve. Raghubir wants to hear her music on the radio. Akselberg wants to have his own vinyl.
Axelberg also explained that it was never a “secret” that people could send direct messages to large accounts like Pop Tingz and pay for promotion.
Why aren't X posts classified as ads?
Pop Tingz did not reveal in the tweets that they received money to promote the singers. While some X answers Akselberg's statement appears to claim that while it was never a secret that people could pay to promote on X, these are still undisclosed ads.
Pop Tingz did not respond to a question from Yahoo News about classifying the tweets as ads.
However, there have been conversations about X's ethics regarding advertising since Elon Musk took over the company in 2022. In October, Mashable He pointed out that a lot Users were noticing the ads Which were not brand specific and were not classified as paid promotions. X did not respond to Yahoo News' request for comment.
The FTC has rules in place that make social media companies and influencers responsible for ensuring all ads are “clearly and conspicuously” labeled.
“If you endorse a product via social media, your endorsement message must make clear when you have a relationship (“material connection”) with the brand,” the FTC says. A “material connection” to a brand includes a personal, familial, employment, or financial relationship — such as the brand paying you or offering you free or discounted products or services.”
Politicians are allowed to receive financial endorsements from other people and companies, but they must disclose that they have received those endorsements.
The question seems to be, should we expect the same from X's viral account?
