Reply To: An Update on LinkedMusicians

[peter]

On TomEatsTheUkulele said

Thank you for all of this Peter. I’m especially thrilled about #3 as I find it rather difficult to get actual critical reviews of plugins or libraries nowadays.

TL;DR Version

The terrible ethics of influencer marketing and the ethics of a major forum owner in this industry is a major reason why I wanted to do this site for more than a decade.

Way Too Long Version

I realize people hate it every time I mention that my background is marketing and writing on marketing and branding with an emphasis on strategy, accountability, and ethics. Believe me, I don’t tell that because I have incredible respect for the profession. I share that because it’s relevant. While I created this site with a sense of urgency because I thought the group of people at Cakewalk Forum were just a wonderful group of people, I wanted to convey that the ethics in this industry are not great. Yes, many small devs are decent, ethical business people. Some are not. At VI-Control, most people don’t realize it, but you have a number of contractors for developers who talk up their employer’s products and attack competitors. The underlying rule that Mike Greene has is that  you cannot attack or get too critical of developers who pay to be at his site. I can tell you from direct experience with Mike discussing this. I’m very confident that most community members have no idea.

As you can easily pick up on, I don’t have a lot of love for influencer marketing. If I was still writing about marketing — I ended my book deal with Wiley, closed the publication on marketing that basically made my career and only recently attempted to write the kind of articles I used to write when I put something together on the influence of AI and marketing for my career site — I would likely write a book on influencer marketing from an ethics perspective, and how to do it more ethically. But would it sell? Probably not. Because influencer marketing as it is, is incredibly profitable. Influencers are paid to gain your trust and then sell it to the highest bidder. That”s how it works. Even going back more than a decade in the early days of influencer marketing, major brands would spend a ton of money to get tech influencers (my area of expertise, although I’ve worked and consulted to CPGs, food brands, insurance, consumer and business services, chemicals, etc.). In the 00s, I won’t say the name — I could be sued — but tech bloggers widely perceived as credible were given gifts worth over $65,000 along with products for review. Every influencer is selling the trust you have in them to brands for the highest price than can get. Marketing and PR managers use their budgets just like advertising for influencers at mid and large companies. But in fields like this one, even small developers are paying influencers.

The smallest influencers in this business start out by doing reviews in exchange for products. They’re in it for the free products and the hopes of then doing paid videos for the developers, and money from affiliate links.

I would estimate that 99% of influencers violate national regulations and laws on influencer marketing. In the US, we actually have very simple regulations that I think got this area right. The influencer must clearly state at the beginning of a video or in regular type on a web page if they are compensated and how for doing the content and any relatives working for the brand. I was successful, to some extent, in getting Simeon to do a disclosure upfront. It doesn’t include any specifics on compensation, but it’s far better than most. Of course, for an influencer, disclosing something like, “I was paid $10,000 by Sampletopia [I made that name up] to make this review video.” Okay, the more likely way an influencer would say that with BS speak would be, “I was paid $10,000 by Sampletopia to do this review video, but I can tell you sincerely that it has absolutely no influence on my review whatsoever.” Because sure, the brand will still let them keep that money if they did a negative review. Um, no.  It doesn’t work that way — and yes, that’s ALWAYS in a contract. I call BS on this lie every influencer tells.

So, as part of what I have been recognized for as a writer is ethics, you may be thinking, what? Peter, you’ve worked for a number of developers and even your friendships create bias. Yep. So I will not be voting in some of the surveys and polls. And no doubt, when I write something, I think it’s fair and reasonable that people would question if my relationships may result in bias. One thing I can tell you is that I have stated up front with developers is that my consulting to them has zero to do with my posts (this goes back two decades). For example, I’ve consulted to 8Dio / SoundPaint and Kirk Hunter Studios. So you might tread cautiously when you see me posting about string sample libraries. However, if you note, I’ve lavished praise of string libraries from Fracture Sounds, Cinesamples, Soniexema, VSL, and some others. Simply because I write about what I love, what moves me. One thing that does change with me is that when I get to know a developer, I may tone down by sense of humor or perhaps my ability to be brutal in a critique of a library. Once I’ve gotten to know a developer as a person, I certainly will find a way to communicate I don’t like something without being harsh. For example, I made a post making a job about MediPads being possibly the worst name I’ve seen for a sample library and that it sounds like a prescription diaper brand. Several weeks later, the developer contacted me and we hit it off super well. I eventually told him about my post. But would I make a post like that again? Nope. Not because I’ve done any paid work for the developer, but just out empathy, really (which you could make the case should have been there in the first place, but I sometimes, I can’t resist going for the joke).

So what I’m saying, if you stayed with me this long, is that if I am looking at this objectively, your voice and those who’ve never taken money or anything of value from a developer are the best sources for honest reviews. A good publication following sound journalistic ethics demands this of their reviewers, but it’s pretty much non-existent in the influencer world. There are very small influencers that are less biased than others, but they’re all extremely biased, because the business of being an influencer is very very profitable. In this industry, I know a top influencer. I like the guy. A decade ago he was commanding $15,000 USD to do a review. If you think that results in an honest, unbiased review, I have a bridge I’d like to sell you. And yes, if you knew my bio, it is ironic for someone quoted in books and magazines as an expert on marketing and branding to be taking the influence of marketing out of things. But I think influencer marketing has basically been such a deceptive industry that I feel passionate about doing this.

That is the long version of how this passion project came about. That said, I’m trying to shorten my average posts!

LinkedMusicians Founder. Your friend who keeps the beat.

Check out my music. 

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