Making money in this business requires serious bread, and even then, there’s no guaranteed return on investments. For a lot of artists, paying for promotion is just part of the game. However, it clouds the audience's perception when they trust certain voices as tastemakers. When Instagram and TikTok pages post new music because they got paid to, it makes you wonder just how reliable their taste in music really is.
In a recent interview with The Breakfast Club, TDE signee Trap Dickey detailed some of his come-up in the game before penning a deal with the label. He explained the lengths that he went through to get his music to the right audiences, including paying DJ Akademiks for a post.
“I tried to do all that. I even paid Akademiks one time, so it’s like, I think I went through the little blueprint, but it just cost so damn much,” Dickey explained, revealing that he paid between $2000-$3000 for a post. “I was definitely paying promotion pages that I seen–that I feel like the labels were paying for these guys.”
The clip began gaining traction on X with some accusing Akademiks of taking payments from artists to post their music. Others argued that Ak has been open about his approach to managing his Instagram account and promoting music.
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Akademiks Responds To Payola Allegations
In response to an X post that argued the pay-for-post scheme was part of Akademiks’ business model, the media personality stated that he never tried to hide the fact that he accepted payment. “Wait they thought they were revealing some new stuff??” he tweeted. “I’m pretty transparent good or bad.”
What's interesting is that these accusations surfaced the same week that Jeremy Hecht alleged that Akademiks takes payments from the head of Truth Social, as well as every major label.
Check out Akademiks’ post above and let us know your thoughts in the comments below. Do you think it’s fair for artists to pay for posts on pages like Akademiks?
