King of the music blog aggregators, Hype Machine, published a blog post yesterday detailing new security measures they have added to the site in an effort to reduce the potential for artist’s and their promotional teams to abuse the charts on the site.

The post ends with a list of the artist’s believed to have attempted to manipulate the charts on the Hype Machine, including Atlanta band, The Constellations, among them.

When asked to comment on their suspension, The Constellations were completely unaware of the situation, asking “We don’t know what you are talking about, other than Elijah was in ISS [In School Suspension] his whole high school career. Is that it?”

Small town note, this was at the same high school I attended, North Atlanta High School.

There’s some fiery discussion on the blog post about the validity of Hype Machine’s actions. Perhaps these bands are just victims of naive publicists, outdated marketers or overzealous fans? They are leaving it up to you decide. Despite their possibly questionable promotional techniques, The Constellations are a great collection of local musicians and should not be passed up. Just feel free to pitch them some white-hat tips.

[mp3] The Constellations – Setback
[mp3] The Constellations – Perfect Day
[mp3] The Constellations – Love Is A Murder (featuring Cee-Lo)