I recently finished the fascinating book ‘Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist’ by Liz Pelly, which brutally exposes the flaws in the streaming giant. She takes us through the history of music in the digital age and how we ended up living in the ‘Spotify era’, before an eviscerating takedown of the flaws within the company itself and how damaging its rise has been for musicians and the wider music industry.
Of course I already knew the payment model was hugely flawed and hurting artists but what I was most surprised to learn about was the impact Spotify has made on the way most people consume music.
The concept of the ‘mood machine’ itself was just completely alien to me. I use streaming services so differently than the way it was being described in the book. I realised with a sinking heart that my kind of passionate, obsessive music listening might be seriously endangered.
Continue reading “Against the ‘Mood Machine’: How I Listen to Music in the Spotify Age”
Highway Queens 