An unsparing investigation into Spotify's origins and influence on music, weaving unprecedented reporting with incisive cultural criticism, illuminating how streaming is reshaping music for listeners and artists alike.
Drawing on over a hundred interviews with industry insiders, former Spotify employees, and musicians, Mood Machine takes us to the inner workings of today's highly consolidated record business, showing what has changed as music has become increasingly playlisted, personalized, and autoplayed.
Building on her years of wide-ranging reporting on streaming, music journalist Liz Pelly details the consequences of the Spotify model by examining both sides of what the company calls its two-sided marketplace: the listeners who pay with their dollars and data, and the musicians who provide the material powering it all. The music business is notoriously opaque, but here Pelly lifts the veil on major stories like streaming services filling popular playlists with low-cost stock music and the rise of new payola-like practices.
For all of the inequities exacerbated by streaming, Pelly also finds hope in chronicling the artist-led fight for better models, pointing toward what must be done collectively to revalue music and create sustainable systems. A timely exploration of a company that has become synonymous with music, Mood Machine will change the way you think about and listen to music.
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"Pelly has written a groundbreaking examination of the music-streaming giant Spotify and its effects on 21st-century music. . . . A provocative, insightful, disturbing, and well-researched indictment of Spotify, the music industry, and streaming platforms, which daily mine billions of data bits from listeners/viewers to maximize profits and churn out musical formulas. Highly recommended."
Library Journal (starred review)
"A spirited debut. . . . Evocative prose and sharp analysis combine for a trenchant critique of the music streaming industry that calls for concrete reforms while asking bigger questions about 'why universal access to music matters' and the cultural consequences of restricting its production and dissemination. The result is a perceptive assessment of the current musical landscape and an eye-opening glimpse into its possible future."
Publisher's Weekly
"A strong indictment to rouse consumers into considering just where our commitment to music is headed."
Kirkus Reviews
Liz Pelly is a writer and editor based in New York. Her byline has appeared at The Baffler, Guardian, NPR, Pioneer Works Broadcast, and many other outlets. Her first book, Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist, will be published in January 2025 via One Signal Publishers. She is an adjunct instructor at NYU Tisch.