Hype Machine released a statement today (6/30) about the integrity of their prided “Popular” song stream. Songs with the most votes for three days will appear at the top of the list and get countless listens, downloads… and hype. Three days seems like a short period of time, but how long does anything last on the internet these days? You don’t know it, but I’ve already moved on to writing my next post.
Apparently Hype Machine has uncovered illegitimate votes from multiple account holders or even bots that propel certain songs to the top of the charts. Not only do they name names, but they name every name in alphabetical order. It doesn’t appear the accused will be banned from the site, but Hype is taking action so this kind of abuse won’t happen again.
One name I was surprised to see was one of Soft City favorites Emil & Friends. They may be guilty of making people believe they were Hollywood bad boy Emil Hirsch, but they’re also guilty of slick-ass beats. Check out a couple tracks on Hype and give them a legit vote if you like it.
New in Town (remix)
**Update: Emil has been responding via Facebook:
“while I can tell you I don’t do any of my own promotion, this list says im the one who has to take the blame. please people, in the future, don’t go apeshit with the voting. and enjoy the rest of your flight.”