How to alienate fans, even when they still like your music
This week, the Los Angeles pop group Yacht took social media by storm with a post claiming they'd been targeted in a sex tape that was released without their knowledge.
Their tale of victimization was initially met with sympathy from their fans. But that sentiment was quickly replaced with anger when the couple admitted the whole thing had been a hoax meant to promote their latest song.
Yacht has since apologized for what they call an "egregious" mistake. But the backlash was swift and furious.
"They betrayed a lot of people for whom revenge porn and these kinds of horrific acts happen all the time and they're very rarely believed," says music writer and Day 6 panelist Andrea Warner.
"Any prank that operates from a point of 'I have been victimized' is not the right prank for 2016."
Musicologist and 'Switched On Pop' co-host Nate Sloan was similarly disgusted by the PR stunt gone wrong.
"Social media seems to be a platform to sort of ameliorate injustice — especially in the music industry," says Sloan. "This felt like a betrayal of fans' instincts to support the band."
Yacht wasn't the only musical act making headlines for trying to control their image this weekend.
On Monday, pop singer Megan Trainor demanded that her record company pull a music video for her song "Me Too" after it came to light that her video had been photoshopped to make her waist look slimmer than it actually is.
But as with Yacht, there's been some suspicion about whether Trainor's outrage over her own video was genuine. Writer and journalism professor Maura Johnston, for one, wasn't convinced.
"I find her actively pernicious," says Johnston. "And I think this is a stunt, I really do."
"Every artist now who isn't a Beyonce is a mid-level artist; everybody is fighting for the same scraps of attention."
Of course, Megan Trainor wasn't the only one with music to promote this week. And Warner says there are plenty of other great songs to distract music fans who were fed up with this week's pop culture headlines.
"Another song that actually came out this week — that is about body positivity, from a woman who is plus-size, from a woman who's a person of colour: Lizzo's 'Good as Hell' is a great song. That's the song that deserves attention, not Megan Trainor."