The Rise of the Industry Plant

While the term has become ubiquitous, its various definitions indicate issues plaguing the music industry

Growing up in the 90s, we enjoyed music from musicians like Britney Spears, NSYNC, Mariah Carey and Spice Girls. All of these collective artists were backed up by big studios and were marketed towards the youth. Today, they would offhandedly be known as “industry plants.”

The term industry plant developed during the 2010s on rap music message boards. On the forum KanyeToThe, rappers from Waka Flocka Flame, Lil Wayne and 50 Cent were cited as industry plants. Although its usage has gained popularity, there is a lack of consensus about its definition.

Terminology of “industry plant” often refers to artists who have an unfair advantage in the music industry, artists whose music is constantly jammed down the consumers’ throat and artists who have a familial connection in the industry.

However, Rolling Stone defines industry plants as artists who are label-backed, but present themselves as “self-made.” On the other hand, The New York Times has ascribed it to artists with undeserving recognition and major opportunities. Within any variant of the definition, the wording implies a negative connotation towards certain artists.

Musicians targeted as industry plants include Billie Eillish, Clairo, Lil Nas X, Chance the Rapper and Cardi B. The term mainly targets minority and female musicians, which indicates how the term carries bouts of misogyny and racism.

As of last year, a band targeted as the industry plant was Tramp Stamps. An all girl pop-punk band, their members include lead singer Marisa Maino, guitarist Caroline Baker and drummer Paige Blue. The band became a hated one-night sensation as their music videos became popularized on TikTok. Backed up by the label Make Tampons Free, they were clearly not well received by general audiences.

In a recent interview with Anthony Fantano of The Needle Drop, Maino discussed how she had “written with Paige a few times and…[she] was a massive fan of Caro…[leading to] okay all three of us should get in a band.” While audiences assumed that the band didn’t write their own songs, that statement is hardly true.

Working alongside her band members, Maino stated that they handled all the recordings, mixings and songwriting on their own. Maino further elaborated that being backed by a label doesn’t always deem privilege, as there is always the chance of failure. As the negative reviews to their covers and songs worsened, Maino mentioned that, “the world that people had created for us while there were a lot of things going on, a lot of that world we didn’t exist in and was not authentic to us…[we] became part of this narrative.” The creation of Tramp Stamp wasn’t a calculated move cultivated by a major label, but a band that they created over a late night of drinking.

Coinciding with the advancement of the internet, application of the term industry plant has hit its peak. In an era of photoshopped pictures, the rise of the influencer, and documenting glamorized culture, authenticity can be hard to find even in music. For the obsessive music fan, the lack of authenticity can be troubling for people who want to promote and listen to authentic music. Nevertheless, casual listeners don’t care much about how music algorithms influence the music they listen to.

It seems that the industry plant partly arises between a lack of balance in promotion of artists and their interests by listeners. For listeners looking for authenticity, heavy promotion of new artists may raise alarms for being disingenuous.

Another issue is that audiences fail to acknowledge that the term is applicable to any general artist. Most artists during their later careers will be signed by major labels. This is just how most labels operate, signing musicians out of obscurity.

While it may seem difficult to understand, many musicians in the digital age do put in the work before being signed on to labels by spreading their music on Soundcloud, YouTube and TikTok. It may not be rappers spreading their CDs on the street or bands performing at small club venues, but there is work and effort placed onto being picked by a label.

Furthermore, the term fails to identify how many artists are taken advantage of by the industry and places plenty of blame on the artists.

In hindsight, the industry plant term opens up a lot of issues within the industry such as its misogyny, racism and its exploitation of artists.