Gaming the Apple Podcast charts is cheaper and easier than you think

John Perotti’s drone music podcast was never meant for the masses, yet on a Friday in early October, it sat near the top of Apple’s podcast charts. All it took to get it there was a $5 payment to a stranger who’d DMed Perotti days earlier.

As the manager of podcast production at WBUR, Boston’s NPR News station, Perotti receives lots of audio-related messages. But this October, he received an unusual one: a person claiming they could get any show to the top of Apple’s Podcast charts for a small fee. Perotti had read about these offers before, so he figured he’d give it a try.

His show, called WAVes, is “mostly drone music and weird comedy / storytelling,” Perotti tells The Verge. “I wouldn’t say [it’s] a pile of garbage, just nothing that...

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