Streaming services are big business. Making it as a newcomer band is almost impossible if you don’t get into the right playlists or pay a lot of money for hi-tech media targeting. “Laut gegen Nazis” is an acclaimed organisation fighting nazis in Germany. Still, they don’t have big budgets. So, they had to get creative to tackle the problem of fascist bands on music streaming platforms. We crafted a trojan Nazi-rock band so perfectly tuned to the parameters of the streaming algorithms that they automatically – and free of charge – spread our antifascist band to the German fascist community.

Situation:

Fascism rises again worldwide, but especially in Germany. The ultimate gateway into the scene is music. In the past, fascist music was hard to find, today it’s super easy to come by: streaming platforms like Spotify and YouTube host thousands of songs with fascist ideology – even worse, their algorithms help spread those songs. Few people are aware of the problem in Germany. And even though the platforms do know, no effective measures are taken to remove these songs or bands.

Brief:

Laut gegen Nazis, an acclaimed organisation fighting fascism in every form, wanted to change that, wake up the platforms and activate people, so fascist music is removed from the web.

Objectives:

Create as much awareness of the problem as possible

Activate people to put pressure on the platforms

Get the platforms to act and remove songs and bands

Strong activation without a big budget.

Fascism is on the rise again. THE gateway into the scene: Music. Fascist songs are super easy to find on streaming platforms like Spotify. Even worse: the algorithms will recommend more once you listen to a song. To remind the platforms of their duty of care, we tricked algorithms into promoting a trojan nazi band instead, HetzJaeger.

With the help of music streaming data analysis tools like, e.g. Chartmetric, we identified the most popular fascist rock tracks, fanbase and playlists. We screened YouTube and Telegram and consulted experts to get an in-depth understanding of how our band and song had to be optimised. Then, we created the perfect trojan Nazi-Rock band. Once the algorithms automatically recommended our teaser to the German fascist scene, we released the entire song – revealing its true, antifascist nature. Public outcry followed. And now, the platforms finally start to act.

The German fascist scene is predominantly male (80%), between 20 and 39 years old. The typical entry age is between 12 and 15. With music being one of the main gateways into the scene, streaming platforms are a crucial tool for recruitment today. Spotify (most popular, first contact), YouTube and Soundcloud (easy upload, even illegal songs) are the most popular ones. Germany’s fascist music scene of producers is fairly small – new artists normally evolve from already existing bands. As the police monitor most fascist musicians for their involvement in criminal acts, masks and aliases are a widespread tool. The longing for new music in the scene is immense, and anonymity is very common for bands – an excellent base for our trojan band. We focused on the leading platforms and a mainstream fascist rock sound to find as many nazi fans as possible.

Over one year, we analysed nazi songs and bands to carefully craft our trojan band, teaser and music video. Keeping algorithms and nazi music fans in mind at all times. And then we released the teaser on 30th December 2021 to Spotify, Deezer, Soundcloud, YouTube, Apple and Amazon Music. We ensured real nazi music fans listened to our song by using Artist Affinity Targeting. We infiltrated Telegram groups and used Instagram, Facebook and Twitter to make the band believable for fascists – luring them into sharing, discussing and listening to HetzJaeger. And they unwillingly trained the algorithms, making them believe HetzJaeger was THE new nazi band. On Hitler's seizure of power anniversary, 30th January 2022, we released the entire song and music video. Finally, its true antifascist nature became clear. We proved how the platforms spread fascism, and the public outrage reminded them of their responsibility.

In only one month, the algorithms recommended us to 120,000 real nazi fans. Following release of the entire song, the nazi community was shocked and angry, creating additional buzz around our initiative. And proving the streaming services’ role in distributing fascist music, we activated over 200,000 supporters to pressure the platforms. We started a petition on change.org, and the press also pitched in, resulting in a media reach of: 1.7 billion. Topic awareness in Germany rose by +500%. Media covered the operation in over 28 countries. ”Laut gegen Nazis” boosted their social media reach by +771% and engagment with their content by +1,400%, but most importantly, the platforms started to act. Over 700 fascist songs and bands have been removed.

Not only did our song and band have to convince the algorithms, but also the fascist music fans. Our challenge was to create something appealing, fresh and still 100% algorithm-convincing from raw data like average tempo, pitch, dynamics, buzzwords and colour codes. We used this data as guardrails for our artists, who created the teaser, music video and visual identity the scene immediately accepted and celebrated. And it also triggered the algorithms: After releasing the teaser, the algorithms recommended it to fans of fascist bands over 120,000 times in just one month. HetzJaeger became the hot topic in the scene’s biggest Telegram channels, and our nazi fans were eagerly waiting for us to release the whole song. The data we gathered also helped us communicate with the scene in the right way and trick them into kindling the conversation around HetzJaeger.