Photo: Mike Wall
Marketing agency Chaotic Good Projects recently scrubbed its website following backlash over its “fake fan” promotional tactics. The controversy stems from a March Billboard interview with co-founders Jesse Coren and Andrew Spelman, who launched the firm in February 2025. The duo admitted to using vast networks of social profiles to “control the narrative” and manipulate public perception to drive commercial results.
“Most people see a video or something about an album that came out, and that first comment they see becomes their opinion, even when they haven’t heard the whole album,” Coren summed up. “It’s really important for us to make sure we’re ahead of it and controlling that narrative in the direction we want.”
“What we do at Chaotic Good with our management clients is: The second the SNL performance drops at midnight, you should post 100 times saying that was the best performance of the year,” Spelman added. “The question is how you do that at scale. It takes a lot of work and infrastructure, but controlling the narrative is really, really important.”
Chaotic Good’s team is largely comprised of college-age interns and contractors focused on mass-posting content across social platforms. Following a Substack deep-dive by artist Eliza McLamb, the agency reportedly scrubbed its website, removing references to its “narrative campaign” services and its client list. This list allegedly included high-profile names such as Dua Lipa, Coldplay, Justin Bieber, and Reneé Rapp. While these digital tactics can inflate online presence, they often fail to translate into live ticket sales; notably, one client with massive social numbers continues to play small 2,000-capacity venues, highlighting the disconnect between artificial promotion and genuine fan engagement.
