Since Spotify launched in 2008, music streaming services have steadily encroached on our lives. Streaming was sold as a legal alternative to piracy. But in reality, it was an untenable model that enriched a small number of executives while pillaging music communities and exploiting listeners. ‘Mood Machine’ tells the story of the so-called streaming revolution by reckoning with both sides of what Spotify refers to as its two-sided marketplace: the listeners who pay with their dollars and data, and the musicians who provide the material powering it all (and are increasingly charged fees to access their fans). With testimony from industry insiders and artists alike, Pelly will give voice to the new discontent, and sketch out how the ecstasy and diversity and connection of music can be preserved for future generations.
