With the popularity of social media, the “influencer culture” has become a new phenomenon, but it’s certainly not one that everyone appreciates. Such was the case when an influencer couple asked a professional singer to write them a personal song and fly out to their destination wedding to perform an hour-long set for free. The singer-songwriter had what many believe was the perfect response.
Jamie Mathias, a professional singer who lives in England and boasts tens of thousands of followers on multiple social media platforms, was contacted by an unnamed “influencer couple,” who reportedly has a “large following,” according to Daily Mail. Sadly, Mathias’s interaction with the couple didn’t go quite as he might have hoped. Instead, the influencers had a rather tall order that they clearly wanted for free.
Taking to Twitter, the professional singer decided to blast the influencer culture, sharing screenshots of the messages he received that requested he not only write a personal song for the couple but that he also fly out to their Ibiza wedding and perform an hour-long set in exchange for “promo posts.” Simply put, they wanted him to work for “exposure” — aka free. Thankfully, Mathias wasn’t having any of it.
As seen in the image above, Jamie Mathias was willing to work with the couple at first, saying he’d “fire some prices over” after they elaborated on what they were looking for. In response, the unnamed influencer wrote, “But nah G, we’re not really paying the suppliers. We’ll do promo posts and what we charge for promo is worth way more than any track,” making it clear they wanted Mathias to work for “free.”
Unsurprisingly, Mathias wasn’t impressed. “I’d rather the money thanks though,” Mathias wrote in response before asking the influencer a legitimate question: “If I needed the promo, how’d you find me?” In other words, the singer already had exposure and didn’t need more of it. What he wanted was paying customers. Sadly, the influencer didn’t grasp this concept.
“Bro it’s a wedding with sh*t loads of other influencers with big money there,” the alleged internet celebrity wrote, adding, “think of the reach!” as he tried to convince the singer to perform at the wedding in exchange for social media promotion. Thankfully, Mathias had the perfect response for social media stars who like to demand freebies.
“Ah excellent, a wedding full of other people with lots of money that want me to do sh*t for them for free promo! Sign me up bro,” the singer fired back, being obviously sarcastic. Others seemed to agree with the point he made, saying artists shouldn’t agree to work for just exposure. And, it turns out, Mathias didn’t need to since his post was garnering plenty of attention all by itself across multiple platforms.
It also wasn’t long before it garnered the attention of various news outlets. Although Mathias was allegedly offered cash to name the couple, he showed he was the bigger man. “I’ve already been asked by a certain red top newspaper for their names for money but I am honestly not that much of a little b*tch,” Mathias wrote. “Hopefully they’ll see what people think of them,” he added as the screenshots went viral.
It’s safe to say, people didn’t think too highly of the so-called social media stars as the viral posts were flooded with a stream of responses that blasted influencers:
- “Influencer culture has to be the modern-day snake oil phenomenon. Imagine believing your own self importance and that of those around you to think you no longer have to pay for things because your existence is value in itself,” one unimpressed commenter wrote.
- “Makes perfect sense. Play for a bunch of freeloaders so that in the future, some more freeloaders will ask you to play for free,” another wrote. “The phrase ‘influencers with big money’ suggests this one doesn’t have big money, and it’s all about appearances in front of their wealth mates.”
- “I think the only people being influenced by influencers are now other influencers,” a third commenter wrote. “The shiny filters & happy faces are a front for insecurity and desire to be most ‘liked’… the rest of us can see through the b******* at this stage… it worked for a while but the bubble has burst.”
- “It’s about time people stopped calling them influencers, it makes what they do sound more acceptable. The correct name is professional scroungers,” another added.
- “As a freelancer I have been told this and fallen for it (in the past). ‘It’ll be great exposure’, ‘think of the future work’, ‘we’ll pay you for any future stuff’ blah blah b******,” yet another wrote, sharing their own experience. “Try getting a plumber to sort under your sink for free if you tell the neighbours how good he was.”
We’d have to agree with the sentiments above. Let’s face the facts. If Jamie Mathias had agreed to do the gig for free, the only thing he was likely to gain was more “charity requests,” which is what this really was. If you have “influence” and “big money,” you can afford to pay and should be more than willing to do so if you actually value the artist’s work. Pay people what they are worth. Anything else is an insult, regardless of how many social media followers you may have.
While word of mouth is definitely a much-needed marketing tool for any artist or business, what these alleged social media stars don’t seem to grasp is that it needs to be authentic! This is not. This type of “promotion” isn’t saying, “Look what I paid for and am pleased with.” Instead, it’s “look what I got for free,” and it can actually devalue someone else’s work. It’s sad that “influencers” don’t see when their “influence” is actually having a negative impact.
