When December arrives Liz Pelly, who has been dedicating essays and analyzes to Spotify and its mechanisms for about ten years, awaits the day of Wrapped in the throes of a mixture of horror and hope. Horror because when users post their audience statistics provided by the platform, they have the impression of being inundated with advertising made free of charge by a multinational. Hope because in recent years Wrapped has provided the opportunity to denounce the practices of a company which, as Pelly claims in the book Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlisthas damaged the lives of so many musicians and listeners by treating music “as a product rather than an art form.” In the last year the criticism has been even harsher and therefore Wrapped has become for Pelly “a warning that it is not a secondary issue to reflect on the problems that listeners and musicians face in the streaming era”.
This is what he's talking about Mood Machinewhich is partly an investigation into the company's internal procedures and partly a treatise in which Spotify serves to “enter into a broader landscape” of power, politics, work and surveillance capitalism. «Writing it I understood that what is underway is not a debate to decide which is the most ethical streaming platform. The question is not: which app can I use as an alternative to Spotify, Apple Music or Amazon Music? The question is: how can we reduce corporate power over music and culture? How can we minimize the influence of multinationals on our lives?”
For much of the 1910s, when he lived and worked in an art space called Silent Barn in Brooklyn, Pelly was part of the independent music scene he talks about in Mood Machine. Anyone familiar with his writings will not be surprised by the book's assessment of the platform and streaming in general. “The story of Spotify,” he writes, “is the story of overzealous, opportunistic 21st-century technocrats, of billionaires and their overvalued technologies who look around for problems to solve, ignoring the social rubble they leave behind.”
Pelly's work has long contributed to fueling the conversation on these issues. Mood Machine is no exception: before the book even came out, an excerpt published by Harper's prompted Jack Antonoff to comment that the idea that streaming services devalue music “sums it up perfectly.”
Did you talk to anyone at Spotify about writing the book?
For me it was more important to report points of view that are not often reported by traditional media: those of musicians, organizers, researchers, those who work on independent labels. They don't have the same visibility as a Spotify publicist. I wanted to tell the true story of the impact this company has had on musicians and listeners. Spotify has already told its version on many occasions. And then, you know, having worked in the media I know that spokespersons for large companies are not very willing to talk about the functioning of the organizations they represent. I tried to use my precious 90 thousand words to propose another type of narrative.
Did your experience and background related to DIY scenes and spaces influence your point of view in writing the book?
No matter how objective a journalist tries to be, his values always emerge from his writings. One of the aspects that I find most interesting is how streaming services have become an integral part of independent culture, despite being mysterious objects. Few know how they work and instead one of the values of independent music and DIY ethics is the transparency of the processes. I asked myself what it means to be independent in an era in which large platforms, in clear contrast with the values underlying independent music, have insinuated themselves into our lives.
I see an attitude of resignation towards streaming platforms and algorithm culture, an attitude that paves the way for the idea that there are no alternatives. Independent music scenes make people realize that this lack of alternatives is a false myth. Being part of independent music culture means questioning centers of power to create spaces for discussion about what it means to be independent.
What did you discover about the company that surprised you?
The story of the so-called fake artists has been around since 2015 or 2016. I had assumed that they were do-it-yourself scammers trying to screw the system. Stories like that of individual streaming service scammers have never particularly interested me. Focusing on individual cheaters has always seemed to me to be a distraction from the systemic deception that is taking place. And instead, discovering that the so-called fake artists are actually part of a strategy conceived within Spotify, where there is a small team that interfaces with these specific licensees, and that this program even has a name surprised me a lot. .
At the risk of asking a stupid question, have you found anything good on Spotify's account during your work?
Given that Spotify is an app with more than 600 million users, it's an important lens through which to view the issues facing listeners and musicians today. But it's not like it's the only company in the music industry to deserve criticism. I hope that this book can also encourage a comparison with other influential realities in the field of music. It was important for me to consult not only musicians who have found themselves struggling in the streaming era. I've also talked to people who have made a lot of money from streaming. It's not just musicians who don't make money who criticize the system. There are those who earn a fair amount of money, but feel too tied to the platforms and therefore make different types of criticism.
Say a reader who knows little about streaming picks up the book: what do you hope they get out of it?
Mood Machine it's a book about music streaming, but I also thought of it as a book about how power works. It would be nice if it inspired us to think more deeply about our listening habits. Our lives improve when we listen carefully or connect with music in a profound way, not just as vibe. The impact of consumerism on art has long been reflected upon. This book is one voice among many of a great investigation that is ongoing and will continue into the future. Well, this makes me happy.
From Rolling Stone US.
