For $1,200, Your Band Can Seem 'Popular' on MySpace

Seeing as how MySpace popularity is still being used by some as a benchmark of future musical success--even though the site doesn't really have a hold on the concept of what an "indie" label is--there are now companies out there that are expressly designed to inflate bands' "played" count to new, absurd heights. (If you can't trust a band's MySpace play count, what is left in the world?) One of those companies is Want More PROMO?, a Florida-based outfit that claims to have "signed artists" among its ranks and that incorrectly figured hip-hop artist Sage Francis for someone who'd shell out $1,200 for 430,000 fake plays a month. The person behind Francis' MySpace page played along with the company's solicitations, then posted the pitch to Francis' official site in order to tell the world about yet another dark side of social networking.