Mood Machine

I already knew a lot of the dirt that journalist Liz Pelly dishes about music streaming giant Spotify in this book. To wit: most musicians are paid almost nothing when their songs are streamed, and in fact they have to agree to reduced royalties if they want their music to be promoted. The app harvests tons of data about its consumers, which is then sold and used to target ads as well as for other, more nefarious purposes. Some of the music on Spotify isn't even real - it's computer generated to mimic successful songs or match a given mood.

Honestly, what really shook me was realizing that Spotify has taken something special that people actively seek out, and turned it into a series of algorithmically-determined playlists so users can engage in passive “lean-back listening,” letting Spotify soundtrack their everyday moments (every night too - sleep playlists are very popular). Instead of Apple Music or Amazon, Spotify sees its competition as something much broader: silence. Any minute you are not listening eats away at the company's $1.5 billion profit.

Mood Machine is well-written and researched, if just a tiny bit dry. It could have used a few more interviews with musicians whose careers have been affected by Spotify, although I imagine the fear of reprisal might have kept them off the record. Pelly's solutions are similar to those of any group suffering under late-stage capitalism: artist collectives, community organizing and unionizing, even local libraries. You know, all of the things that are looking more and more like pipe dreams in 2025.

i have long felt a vague unease with spotify, mostly around how poorly it compensates artists for their work, but this book does a great job articulating why spotify (and every other streaming service) isn't just bad for artists, it's bad for culture.

Incredible look into the inside of streaming and Spotify specifically, Liz Pelly did so much work over years of interviews and document reviews to put all of this information together.