Fake Reviews ???

[Ive always been a dreamer]

There has been some discussion in another thread about what seems to be a recent practice of bands paying ‘critics’ to write positive reviews. Without targeting any band in particular, I thought this may make for a good general discussion. Is this something akin to our current day environment of ‘fake news’? Are you okay with this new decorum or do you see it as a disingenuous attempt to sway fans or are you somewhere in between?

Here is a link that Dawn posted to the the NNR site, which is an entity that seems to be engaging in this kind of marketing technique ...

https://www.nationalrockreview.com/about-nrr

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"Whether you’re a national record label, a publicist representing artists, or even an upcoming hard-working band looking for national exposure, National Rock Review staff can help deliver your message and music to the global entertainment market."

[BerniesSurfboard]

To me, this sort of falls in line with radio and TV spots. I think business types will always find creative ways to market their product to the masses.

To avoid this, people have to try and locate legitimate sources.

[MaryCalifornia]

A marketing service that includes "concert reviewers" in its offerings is definitely suspect. But, maybe marketing firms have always provided that product to bands and we just didn't see it in their written materials. I can see up and coming bands paying for a review and then posting it to their social media.

As for the Eagles, considering they don't even take advantage of Twitter or Instagram, which are FREE, to promote ticket sales, I seriously doubt they would pay reviewers in cities that they play in year after year, certainly not random freelance reviewers. Reviews during the HoTE tour were overwhelmingly positive and the reviews for the current tour are in line with those.

If the reviewer is a regular reviewer for a major metropolitan daily newspaper, I would tend to not think that s/he has not been paid by the band, but you never know.

[Dawn]

A marketing service that includes "concert reviewers" in its offerings is definitely suspect. But, maybe marketing firms have always provided that product to bands and we just didn't see it in their written materials. I can see up and coming bands paying for a review and then posting it to their social media.

As for the Eagles, considering they don't even take advantage of Twitter or Instagram, which are FREE, to promote ticket sales, I seriously doubt they would pay reviewers in cities that they play in year after year, certainly not random freelance reviewers. Reviews during the HoTE tour were overwhelmingly positive and the reviews for the current tour are in line with those.

If the reviewer is a regular reviewer for a major metropolitan daily newspaper, I would tend to not think that s/he has not been paid by the band, but you never know.

Here is the review of recent Eagles concert Chicago 2018

March 2018

https://www.nationalrockreview.com/c...ter-chicago-il

[Dawn]

They also did a review of Jimmy Buffet at Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore

https://www.nationalrockreview.com/c...n-baltimore-md

[MaryCalifornia]

Here's the only other Eagles-related review I could find - notice the common denominator?

https://www.nationalrockreview.com/c...e-ky-14-aug-16

It's JD and the Straight Shot - bolded in the first sentence under the headline in both reviews. Blechh.

The reviewer of the Eagles show is a photographer:

https://www.facebook.com/pg/kirstine...=page_internal