Mood Machine – A conversation with Liz Pelly about Spotify [Nialler9 Podcast]

Thursday, March 13, 2025

Liz Pelly

The music and cultural critic Liz Pelly’s new book Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Cost of the Perfect Playlist is a deep dive into Spotify’s often contentious position in music today.

Liz has been a philosophising on issues brought about by the streaming era’s cultural impact for about 10 years now so the book collates a lot of work, thoughts, research and investigative reporting on Spotify and the way it operates.

We talk to Liz about the Swedish streaming giant’s outsized influence on the music industry, its gatekeeper effect on trends in music, and how Spotify has emphasised mood and passive listening above discovery and initiative.

We talk about the vast collection of user behaviour on the platform that has lead to artists chasing a more homogenous “streambait pop” sound, how Spotify uses fake “ghost” artists and their Perfect Fit Content system to reduce royalty rates and squeeze out real artists on the platform’s popular algorithmic and editorial playlists.

* Support Nialler9 on Patreon, get event discounts, playlists, ad-free episodes and join our Discord community

Liz was last on the Podcast in 2022: Is it time to quit Spotify?

Hey, before you go...

Nialler9 has been covering new music, new artists and gigs for the last 19 years. If you like the article you just read, and want us to publish more just like it, please consider supporting us on Patreon.

What you get as thanks in return...

A weekly Spotify playlist only for patrons.
Access to our private Nialler9 Discord community.
Ad-free and bonus podcast episodes.
Guestlist & discounts to Nialler9 & Lumo Club events.
Themed playlists only for subscribers.

Your support enables us to continue to publish articles like this one, make podcasts and provide recommendations and news to our readers, and be a key part of the music community in Ireland and abroad.