No, algorithms can be used as tools to hide payola far better. If someone subtly tweaks the algorithm to favor a certain artist, how do you ever catch that? It

No, algorithms can be used as tools to hide payola far better. If someone subtly tweaks the algorithm to favor a certain artist, how do you ever catch that? It's particularly concerning because there did a study that showed in different control groups of music listeners, new songs became popular just based on which ones became popular earlier. I mean, try this trick on yourself: find a random song and listen to it 20 times. Odds are you'll like it a lot better after the first several listens than the first time. If in addition to that all your friends happened to know and like the song, and they started advertising the artists heavily, bam! It's a hit. It's just groupthink, and we're all susceptible to it.