Sign-In
Cart
Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist
Hardcover
Business GeneralGeneral SociologyMusic Reference
Publisher Price: $28.99
Please select the version of book you would like to purchase.
ISBN10: 1668083507
ISBN13: 9781668083505
Publisher: Atria/One Signal Publishers
Published: Jan 7 2025
Pages: 288
Weight: 0.90
Height: 1.10 Width: 6.10 Depth: 8.90
Language: English
ISBN13: 9781668083505
Publisher: Atria/One Signal Publishers
Published: Jan 7 2025
Pages: 288
Weight: 0.90
Height: 1.10 Width: 6.10 Depth: 8.90
Language: English
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Prize
Winner of a Certificate of Merit from the 2025 ARSC Awards for Excellence
A New Yorker, GQ, The Daily Telegraph (London), and Library Journal Best Book of 2025
Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Prize
Winner of a Certificate of Merit from the 2025 ARSC Awards for Excellence
A New Yorker, GQ, The Daily Telegraph (London), and Library Journal Best Book of 2025
A 2025 Washington Post Notable Nonfiction
An NPR Books We Love Most pick An unsparing investigation into Spotify's origins and influence on music, weaving unprecedented reporting with incisive cultural criticism, illuminating how streaming is reshaping music for listeners and artists alike. Drawing on over one hundred interviews with industry insiders, former Spotify employees, and musicians, Mood Machine takes us to the inner workings of today's highly consolidated record business, showing what has changed as music has become increasingly playlisted, personalized, and autoplayed. Building on her years of wide-ranging reporting on streaming, music journalist Liz Pelly details the consequences of the Spotify model by examining both sides of what the company calls its two-sided marketplace: the listeners who pay with their dollars and data, and the musicians who provide the material powering it all. The music business is notoriously opaque, but here Pelly lifts the veil on major stories like streaming services filling popular playlists with low-cost stock music and the rise of new payola-like practices. For all of the inequities exacerbated by streaming, Pelly also finds hope in chronicling the artist-led fight for better models, pointing toward what must be done collectively to revalue music and create sustainable systems. A timely exploration of a company that has become synonymous with music, Mood Machine will change the way you think about and listen to music.
An NPR Books We Love Most pick An unsparing investigation into Spotify's origins and influence on music, weaving unprecedented reporting with incisive cultural criticism, illuminating how streaming is reshaping music for listeners and artists alike. Drawing on over one hundred interviews with industry insiders, former Spotify employees, and musicians, Mood Machine takes us to the inner workings of today's highly consolidated record business, showing what has changed as music has become increasingly playlisted, personalized, and autoplayed. Building on her years of wide-ranging reporting on streaming, music journalist Liz Pelly details the consequences of the Spotify model by examining both sides of what the company calls its two-sided marketplace: the listeners who pay with their dollars and data, and the musicians who provide the material powering it all. The music business is notoriously opaque, but here Pelly lifts the veil on major stories like streaming services filling popular playlists with low-cost stock music and the rise of new payola-like practices. For all of the inequities exacerbated by streaming, Pelly also finds hope in chronicling the artist-led fight for better models, pointing toward what must be done collectively to revalue music and create sustainable systems. A timely exploration of a company that has become synonymous with music, Mood Machine will change the way you think about and listen to music.
Also in
Music Reference
Designed for Hi-Fi Living: The Vinyl LP in Midcentury America
Borgerson, Janet
Schroeder, Jonathan
Paperback
From $11.99
Must-See Sci-Fi: 50 Movies That Are Out of This World
de Forest, Sloan
Turner Classic Movies
Paperback
$24.69
Nothing But Love in God's Water: Volume 1: Black Sacred Music from the Civil War to the Civil Rights Movement
Darden, Robert
Hardcover
From $14.99
Smash!: Green Day, the Offspring, Bad Religion, Nofx, and the '90s Punk Explosion
Winwood, Ian
Hardcover
$27.55
Days of Miracle and Wonder: Paul Simon and the Trials and Triumphs of Graceland
Kahn, Ashley
Hardcover
$28.50
With a Little Help from Their Friends: The Beatles and the People Who Made Them
Maconie, Stuart
Hardcover
$27.00
Here Beside the Rising Tide: Jerry Garcia, the Grateful Dead, and an American Awakening
Newton, Jim
Hardcover
$33.25
Emo Revival: Community, Diy, and Rebirth in Post-Hardcore and Emo (2008-2018)
Sacher, Andrew
Paperback
$25.60
Such Great Heights: The Complete Cultural History of the Indie Rock Explosion
Deville, Chris
Hardcover
From $14.99
Punk in 50 Pieces: Punk Rock, Post-Punk, New Wave, and the Five Years That Changed Pop Music Forever
Dettmar, Kevin
Hardcover
$28.49
Bust a Move: Matt Dike, Delicious Vinyl, and the Hip-Hop Hits That First Conquered Pop
Relic, Peter
Hardcover
$26.10
Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of the Beatles
Massey, Howard
Emerick, Geoff
Paperback
$19.00
Raised on Radio: Power Ballads, Cocaine & Payola - The Aor Glory Years 1976-1986
Rees, Paul
Hardcover
$28.50
The Cello Who Loved Me: An accidental pilgrimage to master the world's most beautiful instrument
Sorensen, George
Paperback
$19.00
Meet Me in the Bathroom: Rebirth and Rock and Roll in New York City 2001-2011
Goodman, Lizzy
Paperback
$21.84
Where Are Your Boys Tonight?: The Oral History of Emo's Mainstream Explosion 1999-2008
Payne, Chris
Paperback
$18.99
Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground 1981-1991
Azerrad, Michael
Paperback
$23.74
Stradivari's Genius: Five Violins, One Cello, and Three Centuries of Enduring Perfection
Faber, Toby
Paperback
$19.00
Burning Down the House: Talking Heads and the New York Scene That Transformed Rock
Gould, Jonathan
Hardcover
$31.50
This Is What It Sounds Like: A Legendary Producer Turned Neuroscientist on Finding Yourself Through Music
Rogers, Susan
Ogas, Ogi
Paperback
$17.05
Raps of Resistance: How Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole Reignited a Hip-Hop Tradition
Hopkins, Earl
McCool, Jeremy C.
Hardcover
$49.30
Quadrivium: The Four Classical Liberal Arts of Number, Geometry, Music, & Cosmology
Ashton, Anthony
Lundy, Miranda
Sutton, Daud
Hardcover
$24.70
Made on Earth for Rising Stars: The Electro-Harmonix Story
Epstein, Dan
Scott, Josh
Danger, Daniel
Paperback
$52.25
Last Night a DJ Saved My Life: The History of the Disc Jockey
Brewster, Bill
Broughton, Frank
Paperback
$20.90
Altamont: The Rolling Stones, the Hells Angels, and the Inside Story of Rock's Darkest Day
Selvin, Joel
Paperback
$18.99
Beethoven's Hair: An Extraordinary Historical Odyssey and a Scientific Mystery Solved
Martin, Russell
Paperback
$20.00
Positively Fourth and Mercer: The Inside Story of New York's Iconic Music Club, the Bottom Line
Altman, Billy
Pepper, Allan
Hardcover
$42.70
Let's Spend the Night Together: Backstage Secrets of Rock Muses and Supergroupies
Des Barres, Pamela
Paperback
$18.04
Uncharted Territory: What Numbers Tell Us about the Biggest Hit Songs and Ourselves
Riva, Chris Dalla
Hardcover
$51.00
Good Rockin' Tonight: Sun Records and the Birth of Rock 'n' Roll
Escott, Colin
Hawkins, Martin
Paperback
$20.89
Mystery Train, 50th Anniversary Edition: Images of America in Rock 'n' Roll Music
Marcus, Greil
Paperback
From $12.99
The Jazz Barn: Music Inn, the Berkshires, and the Place of Jazz in American Life
Gennari, John
Hardcover
$33.25
Deliver Me from Nowhere (Movie Tie-In): The Making of Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska
Zanes, Warren
Paperback
$19.00
Ocean of Sound: Ambient Sound and Radical Listening in the Age of Communication
Toop, David
Paperback
$15.15
The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions: The Official Story of the Abbey Road Years 1962-1970
Lewisohn, Mark
Paperback
$28.49
Love Goes to Buildings on Fire: Five Years in New York That Changed Music Forever
Hermes, Will
Paperback
From $10.99
Pink Floyd All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track
Margotin, Philippe
Guesdon, Jean-Michel
Hardcover
$57.00
Verdi With a Vengeance: An Energetic Guide to the Life and Complete Works of the King of Opera
Berger, William
Paperback
From $9.99
Dylan Goes Electric!: Newport, Seeger, Dylan, and the Night That Split the Sixties
Wald, Elijah
Paperback
From $10.99
Are We Still Rolling? Studios, Drugs and Rock 'n' Roll - One Man's Journey Recording Classic Albums
Brown, Phill
Paperback
$27.49
Beatles Gear: All the Fab Four's Instruments from Stage to Studio, the Ultimate Edition
Babiuk, Andy
Hardcover
$57.00
The Dirt: Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band
Sixx, Nikki
Lee, Tommy
Neil, Vince
Paperback
$18.99
A Century of Music Under the Stars: A History of the Mann Center for the Performing Arts and Robin Hood Dell
McCarthy, Jack
The Mann Center for the Performing Arts
Hardcover
$38.00
How Women Made Music: A Revolutionary History from NPR Music
Fensterstock, Alison
National Public Radio Inc
Hardcover
$38.00
Willie, Waylon, and the Boys: How Nashville Outsiders Changed Country Music Forever
Fairbanks, Brian
Hardcover
$30.88
A Modern Guide to Old World Singing: Concepts of the Swedish-Italian and Italian Singing Schools
Jones, David L.
Paperback
$86.93
Making Rumours: The Inside Story of the Classic Fleetwood Mac Album
Stiefel, Steve
Caillat, Ken
Paperback
$22.79