Recently Apple sent out communication to media hosts Like Libsyn and Blubrry (and others) stating that anyone keyword stuffing their author name tag would NEVER be featured in iTunes. It was a polite way of saying KNOCK IT OFF! You see iTunes use to search your description field until people started stuffing their descriptions with a bunch of crap. Apple likes to deliver VALUE. Why did Google beat Netscape back in the day? They delivered better VALUE- FASTER.
I've spoken in the past about Twitter bombing (the act of sending hundreds of tweets per hour directly to an mp3 file to boost downloads) and how it (in the end) hurts all podcasters. A sponsor believes you have 5000 downloads when in reality you have 500. Here again, companies have put technology in place to battle the A**holes peeing in our sandbox.
Well these people are like playing “Whack a Mole” at Chucke E. Cheese. A new industry has emerged where you can BUY clicks on SOUNDCLOUD (Soundcloud should just start selling this as a service – maybe they could actually turn a profit).
Case in point (purposely not linked).
http://getmoreplays.org/buy-soundcloud-plays/
http://www.buycheapfollowersfast.com/soundcloud/
For $3 or less you can purchase 1000 plays on soundcloud. So now you charge your sponsor $40 for 1000 downloads and pocket the other $37.
So word to sponsors, if the podcast your are sponsoring is on Soundcloud, you might want to think twice. Now I'm not saying that everyone who hosts on Soundcloud is a weasel, but if we hear someone doing this we need to quickly, and swiftly, kick them where it counts (ok, that might be a little over the top). But seriously…
KNOCK IT OFF
Here is a (Not safe for work) video from Gary Vaynerchuk explaining how this is nothing new.
In the immortal words of John Lennon, “How do you sleep? I would also like to add, I hate your guts (Zakk Wylde). You're going to ruin it for everyone.
When you're ready to get off of Soundlcoud check out Libsyn.com or Blubrry.com and use the coupon code sopfree to get a free month of hosting.
