Katie and Patrick laugh at me when I buy music CDs. They listen to 100% of their music on streaming services like Spotify, iTunes, and Pandora. Diane and I do listen to Sirius/XM Radio when were driving around but at home, we’re CD listeners.
Liz Pelly’s informative Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist (2025) tells the story of how a tiny, obscure Swedish music streaming service became one of the dominate music platforms in the world. Music streaming has become the norm for millions of listeners with playlists, personalized, and autoplayed services.
“In 2021, a couple of executives form the in-house Warner Music Group data science team explained, in a video, that the comp was then processing information about its roughly 4.5 billion streams per day, all of which power insights to ‘help inform where we’re going to invest in new Artis and content types…’ In other words, the major label was collecting an obscene amount of date every day, and then using it to presumably power algorithms that would tell it what artists to sign in the future.” (p. 90-91).
Of course Spotify, iTunes, and Sirius/XM Radio were doing the same thing. Even back in 2013 when Spotify made its big investment into producing in-house playlists, the effect was the ability of Spotify (and other streaming services) to change the way people listen. “It was not long just about providing all the music in the world, but about purporting to know what you anted to listen to, when you wanted to listen to it, to provide the perfect playlist at the perfect moment.” (p. 92)
The most shocking chapter in Mood Machine is “The First .0035 Is the Hardest.” .0035 of one cent is the royalty Spotify pays singers and groups to play their song. Needless to say, Spotify is paying a pittance for this music while making billions in profit. Studies show the median musician earned between $20,000 and $25,000. You could make more money working at McDonalds.
Liz Pelly, who has covered the music industry for over a decade, shows how a small group of music streaming services controls what millions of subscribers listen to and which singers and artists are shut out. This is a chilling book. Do you listen to music streaming services? GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction — vii
The Bureau of Piracy — 1
“Saving” the music industry — 11
Selling lean-back listening — 24
The conquest of chill — 39
Ghost artists for hire — 57
The background music makers — 68
Streambait pop — 79
Listen to yourself — 92
Self-driving music — 106
Fandom as data — 117
Sounds for self-optimization — 125
Streaming as surveillance — 137
The first .0035 is the hardest — 149
An App for a boss — 151
Indie vibes — 172
This is… Payola? — 185
The lobbyists — 197
The new music labor movement — 204
Conclusion –217
A Note on Sources — 237
Acknowledgements — 239
Notes — 243
Index — 267
Yes—I do listen to music via Spotify (I have not purchased any new CDs in years, although I still listen to the ones I do have, which span an entire wall in my den). I usually make my own playlists on Spotify but I do occasionally add a Spotify playlist to my library, particularly if it’s by an artist whose work I’m not very familiar with so I can get an idea of their music. Yes, Spotify’s reimbursement system is exploitative, but sadly no monolith corporation is fair to its content creators (cf. how Amazon reimburses authors who publish through Kindle Unlimited, etc.). I think the next big thing is going to be AI-generated acts and music: there’s been a kerfuffle on the EDM subreddit recently about a playlist for a group that supposedly had hundreds of thousands of downloads & followers, but no one had ever heard of them (and the picture of the group clearly showed a couple of members with six fingers on each hand). Apparently, Spotify yanked the playlist and tossed it down the obliette. I’m not sure what will happen when AI figures out how to give generated human pictures the right number of fingers.
Deb, I was fascinated by MOOD MACHINE: THE RISE OF SPOTIFY AND THE COSTS OF THE PERFECT PLAYLIST. The technology behind streaming services are incredible! This is a hard time to be a music performer.
George, we’re like you and Diane – Sirius XM in the car, and CDs at home. No Spotify, and yes, we are still buying CDs regularly. So there.
And keep off my lawn!
Jeff, Patrick and Katie roll their eyes when they see my music CDs, but I play them every day! Diane and I just renewed our Sirius XM Radio subscription for our cars for 2026.
First, I’d tell your kids that the younger (hipper) kids are actually buying CDs (and Blu-rays) again and they are doing so in large part to support and feel more connected to the people whose work they care about.
Secondly, no I don’t use a streaming service. I’ve never been one to join the consumer herd and I love physical media and supporting artists is a priority for me. I do listen to (and financially support) my local classical stations which provide me with more exposure to new music than I can keep up with. As for non-classical music, I read a number of new/indie rock etc. websites and, if something seems interesting, will check it out on Band Camp where, if it sounds promising, purchase the CD.
I find streaming a hollow, abhorrent experience. I don’t want a perfect playlist and I sure as hell don’t want an algorithm pushing my face in the trough. I make my own listening choices or open myself up to a playlist created by passionate, knowledgeable human beings which is why I still listen to the remaining good radio stations. Streaming is one very tiny step above shoplifting.
The excuses of “everyone else is doing it this way” and “yeah, they’re screwing the artists but so is everyone else, what can you do?” don’t stand up to the slightest scrutiny. Part of being a functioning human being is making conscientious decisions, now more than ever.
Byron, well said! When I order a music CD from AMAZON, I’m showered with emails about “similar” music CDs AMAZON thinks I’ll like. Some are CDs I’m actually interested it, but many are just spam.
No. I tell Alexa (probably a free amazon music service) to play whatever and she gives me what she has for free. Although mostly I listen to music on you tube.
Patti, I listen to music occasionally on YouTube, too.