For new bands in the digital era, it’s a lame reality that SEO matters. There’s a great folk-pop band in the US, who one of 2023’s most underrated albums (Mind Palace Music), who go by the name “@”. Seriously. That’s it. Try finding that on google – it’s near-impossible without a few tries.
It’s almost like @ didn’t want their music to be easily accessible, but what about when you do want your music to be found by the masses, but the digital sphere has other ideas?
That’s exactly what befell Vapors of Morphine recently, when the band found themselves being blocked on most social platforms.
In a statement sent to Tone Deaf, reps revealed the message that displays if you type the band’s name into Facebook:
“If you see the sale of drugs, please report it… We remove content that doesn’t follow our Community Standards… If you or someone you know struggle with substance misuse, free confidential treatment and information is available.”
It’s a similar story on Instagram. When I recently tried to search for the account of New Zealand indie-pop artist Molly Payton, I was met with this confronting message:
“This may be associated with the sale of drugs… The sale, purchase, or trade of illicit drugs can cause harm to yourself and others and is illegal in most countries. If you or someone you know struggle with substance abuse, you can get help through confidential treatment referrals, prevention, and recovery support.”
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Does Meta really think we’re going to attempt to solicit ecstasy from Instagram? It seems that way. The exact same message also shows up if you try to find Vapors of Morphine’s account on the platform.
As the band’s reps carefully point out, there are simple solutions to this issue: “[…] the band HAVE a Facebook page and the filter should recognise that and allow an extra line ‘do you mean the music group https://www.facebook.com/
In their own statement, Vapors of Morphine expressed their disappointment at the situation.
“For the past year or so, we have noticed that our band name is virtually unsearchable on meta platforms,” they wrote. “A wall is triggered by the word “m0rph1n3” (spelled as so here to avoid the idiotic AI block) which directs one to a message about drug abuse.
“Our band is not named after the drug m0rph1n3, but rather it is named after Morpheus, an Ancient Greek god of dreams. We believe Meta is employing clumsy AI that allows the dissemination of sexual content, misleading fake images, and far right wing propaganda, but blocks common words that are used in medicine, psychiatry (the iconic hardcore band
Suicidal Tendencies has had similar issues) and other vital parts of our culture. It is time to call these morons out for what they are doing- suppressing free speech, which is the cornerstone of a free society.”
Luckily for any Vapors of Morphine fans, they’re much easier to hear away from the internet. You can catch the band at a number of shows through April and May, including at Gumball Fest in Hunter Valley on Sunday, April 27th. They’ll then head to Sydney, Melbourne, Castlemaine, Gold Coast, and Brisbane (find ticket information here).
Vapors of Morphine materialised out of the ashes of ’90s rock trio Morphine, who came to an end in 1999 following the sudden death of frontman Mark Sandman. The evolved band formed in the late 2000s by Morphine saxophonist Dane Colley and multi-instrumentalist Jeremy Lyons.
You can listen to their most recent album, 2021’s Fear & Fantasy, above.
