One of the many problems when judging a band's popularity based on Web 2.0 is that there's surprisingly little security in the knowledge of who is actually viewing your page. Just as software can artificially inflate YouTube page views, the same can be said for MySpace, where websites will run a script to inflate playcounts for bands. Unlike YouTube cheating, however, this could directly lead to lucrative record deals. MySpace has been forceful in cracking down on the offending services, but according to Wired's Listening Post blog, the practice is still in full force among some fans. They key being that while music industry insiders know MySpace is not a reliable indicator of worthiness, fans do not, and they judge their tastes accordingly. MySpace popularity certainly worked out for The Arctic Monkeys and Lily Allen, after all.

Still, with these services, many bands don't know whether services will actually inflate their play counts or whether or not they are scams. Even the most prominent current and former services, such as TuneBoom Pro, MP3SongPlays.com, and GeMySpacePlays, have had the scam label thrown around. Of course, it's unclear whether or not these services were actual intentionally ripping off their customers or were caught by MySpace before they could exectute their services.