Ghost Artists and Other Ways Spotify is Killing Music with Liz Pelly

Even if you don't use Spotify, the streaming platform's anti-labor orientation means it's affecting musicians and thus, the music you listen to, which Liz Pelly covers in depth in her new book, "Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist." Discussed this episode: Spotify's in-house "fake"/ghost artists, how it uses a "payola-like" system to charge artists to get discovered, Walter Benjamin's "aura loss," and more.

Liz's website https://lizpelly.info

Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist https://sfpl.bibliocommons.com/v2/record/S93C6719844

Critical Listening (Liz's new podcast with Max Alper) https://www.patreon.com/criticallistening

Bay Beats - SF Public Library's music streaming service https://baybeats.sfpl.org

Support us and find links to our past episodes: patreon.com/sadfrancisco