Justin Bieber recently made a triumphant comeback with his new single “Yummy”, which as much as I hate to admit, is kind of catchy and not at all as bad as you’d expect from a pop artist in 2020. The Canadian superstar and his team have pulled out all the stops to get the track to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. I mean, if there was such a thing as overkill, this would be it. He’s released multiple physical and digital single variants, seven music videos (yes, seven), a game and interesting promotional interactions.
You’d think that that would be all. Sadly, you’d be wrong.
The singer has come under criticism lately for taking it a step further by sharing (and subsequently deleting) fan-made instructions on how to stream “Yummy” to manipulate stats, in order to secure the number one spot. That’s right, this is what it’s come down to; Justin Bieber encouraging his fans to create “Yummy” playlists and play them throughout the day, even when they’re asleep.
https://twitter.com/unclenappy/status/1215464391266582624?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1215673574511599617&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fhypebeast.com%2F2020%2F1%2Fjustin-bieber-criticized-for-questionable-yummy-streaming-strategy
If it’s not hitting home how sad and desperate that is, the next couple of videos will:
https://twitter.com/samanthaswft/status/1215462271243046912
https://twitter.com/AllysReborn/status/1215461299569811457?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1215461299569811457&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fhypebeast.com%2F2020%2F1%2Fjustin-bieber-criticized-for-questionable-yummy-streaming-strategy
I don’t consider myself a Belieber, but that was hard to watch for me. He doesn’t actually need to go through all the trouble of doing this— One would expect that the multiple physical and digital single variants, seven music videos and game would’ve done the trick.
In Bieber’s defence however, apparently artists and labels have been gaming the system since the dawn of time:
Back when you had to actually buy physical CDs, Major labels would buy enough boxes of their artists product to fill a warehouse, just to ensure they'd go #1.
Gaming the system is nothing new, the rules have just changed. That #1 is important. https://t.co/6tB3L69SCY
— Andrew Barber (@fakeshoredrive) January 10, 2020
So it turns out that Bieber’s promotional strategy is simply a sign of how the music industry has changed over the years with the rise of streaming. Still though, he could’ve been a wee bit more subtle about it.
What do you guys think?
