I’ve already gotten pretty salty with WebCeleb in a previous posting, but it turns out there are things out there that make them look like a musician’s best friend.

On the Guardian’s Music Blog, Helienne Lindvall offers a look at some services that allow musicians to buy a social media network. Usocial charges $87 for 1,000 Twitter followers, $197 for 1,000 Facebook friends, and for $97 will give you 5,000 YouTube views. God knows how they get those views (interns?). It could be something along the lines of Subvert and Profit, which allows artists to purchase social media users at a base price, and also pays users to perform social media tasks such as liking a band on Facebook.*

We already have a series on this site called What Not to Do, and I know I don’t write it, but I would like to make clear that buying social media fans definitely qualifies as WHAT NOT TO DO!!

According to Eileen O’Neill, the Vice President of Modiba, an international record label, music publishing and consulting company, having good social media stats is positive at a superficial level. “When I’m scouting an artist, numbers do matter,” O’Neill said. “I look for Fans on facebook, Friends on myspace, followers on Twitter: the higher the number the more likely it is that I’ll press play and listen hard for what all those fans like about the artist.”

But the numbers themselves aren’t enough for O’Neill, and she can tell the difference. “‘Bought’ fans are non-interactive,” she explained.

Purchased fans are not going to post comments on your band’s wall. Nor will they re-Tweet updates about your gigs. This means that your social media network will not work effectively. What’s the purpose of being connected to these people if they are not interested in listening to your music or spreading the word about it?

“The discerning label, manager, etc, will know immediately from the quality of the material and the level of fan interactivity whether this act is for real,” O’Neill continued. “For new artists just starting out, bumping a few numbers might be worth it to get themselves into the ring with popular artists. But ultimately, a number on your website will not sell concert tickets and t-shirts, and most certainly gives the artist and his/her team a false sense of confidence.”

*Links to these sites are provided merely to prove they exist. They are not being endorsed in any way!