There’s something no one tells you when you start building a band from scratch.
It isn’t the gigs.
It isn’t the travel.
It isn’t the recording costs or the late nights or the endless admin.
The hardest part is trying to exist on the internet in a way that Google respects.
You’d think, in 2025, bands could just grow naturally. Play shows, release music, get some proper press behind them, build a following… you know, the usual way. But there’s this invisible gatekeeper sitting in the middle of everything, pretending to be the supreme judge of who’s “real” and who isn’t.
And that gatekeeper is Wikipedia.
Let me tell you something from first-hand experience:
the system is completely, embarrassingly broken.
The Great Wikipedia Loop of Doom
Try to make a page for your band and here’s what happens:
One reviewer says,
“The band doesn’t look notable enough. Make a page for one of your songs instead.”
Alright then.
You go away, you gather your sources, you cite every article properly, you write a clean non-promotional draft like they want. In our case, the single had press from multiple countries. Proper write-ups. Not just a mention at the bottom of some playlist.
You publish the song page.
It goes live.
Google grabs it.
You think “finally, something’s gone right.”
Then another reviewer comes along and says,
“The single isn’t notable… because the band doesn’t have a page.”
I mean… seriously?
How are new bands meant to win here?
What door are we supposed to walk through when they’ve padlocked both and thrown away the key?
It’s like trying to get into a venue and the bouncer tells you:
“You can’t come in until your mate gets here.”
You point at your mate behind you and he says:
“Well he can’t come in until you’re already inside.”
Round and round in circles until you start questioning your own sanity.
Wikipedia Isn’t a Music Authority It’s a Group Project Run by Strangers
Here’s the really funny part:
Wikipedia pretends to be the global database of truth.
But it’s literally built and policed by a mix of:
- random hobbyists
- bored office workers
- people who take the rules more seriously than life itself
- and the occasional retired librarian who thinks punk died in 1979
These people decide who “deserves” a page.
Not journalists.
Not fans.
Not the music community.
Not actual industry.
Them.
Some of them are great.
Some of them are helpful.
Some genuinely want the site to work.
But some?
Absolute power-trip merchants who act like letting a band exist on a webpage is a threat to civilisation.
And Google the biggest search engine on the planet happily leans on this circus like it’s gospel.
A website run by volunteers gets treated like the official registry of who matters.
It’s laughable.
Except it isn’t because for bands at our level, it actually affects reach, legitimacy, bookings, PR, and search visibility.
One broken system shouldn’t have this much influence.
When You Do Everything Right… and Still Get Slapped
Our single was covered by independent press across:
- the UK
- Mexico
- Spain
- Central America
- South America
Full reviews.
Full articles.
Not paid.
Not requested.
Just genuine coverage.
Wikipedia calls this “not enough”.
Not “significant”.
Not “in-depth”.
Not “notable”.
Yet someone from a reality show gets a page because they spilled a drink in episode three.
A dog with an Instagram account gets a page.
A sandwich someone once tweeted about gets a page.
But a real band building a real following with real support?
“Sorry, rules are rules.”
Give me a break.
Google Needs To Stop Worshipping Wikipedia Like It’s Holy Scripture
Google treats Wikipedia like the Bible of the internet.
If you’re on it?
Great.
You exist.
You get sidebars, visibility, search weight, trust signals.
If you’re not?
Well, you better hope your socials carry you because Google will act like you’re a rumour, not a band.
The problem?
Wikipedia isn’t an official source.
It isn’t curated by industry professionals.
It isn’t moderated by anyone trained.
It’s a messy group chat with rules.
Google leaning on that system is like basing medical advice on a Facebook comments section.
This Isn’t About “Fame” It’s About Fairness
New bands aren’t asking for awards.
We aren’t demanding our place in history.
We’re just asking for the same treatment every other creative field gets.
A fair shot.
A clear path.
A system that doesn’t contradict itself every five minutes.
Right now?
It’s a joke.
And everyone inside the music scene knows it.
Will This Stop Us? No. But It Does Prove Something.
If anything, the whole mess just confirms we’re doing something worth talking about.
Press doesn’t write full-page reviews for nothing.
Fans don’t show up by accident.
Streams don’t gather themselves.
Momentum doesn’t happen if you’re irrelevant.
The only out-of-touch thing in this whole story is Wikipedia’s process.
Google will catch up.
Wikipedia will catch up.
Because we’re not going anywhere.
And if the gatekeepers don’t like it?
Good.
We weren’t asking permission anyway.
