Auto-generated playlists on streaming services are pitched as a great way to discover new music. The experience is like pushing a trolley around the same shopping aisle; over time, it becomes an echo chamber in which the music becomes increasingly familiar.
Several artists, journalists, and critics have written about the damage streaming services are doing to music today (see below), and the latest book to grab headline attention is from New York-based journalist Liz Pelly. Her new book, Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist, is published this month on Hodder & Stoughton (13 Mar. 2025). Pelly’s book is a groundbreaking investigation that “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.” If you wondered why the music you were listening to was beginning to sound less adventurous and more familiar, this may well reveal how and why.
I’ve read a fair amount about how streaming services operate, and these revelations aren’t new to me. Damon Krukowski‘s Dada Drummer’s Almanac has frequently covered issues with streaming and how it’s a threat to music. At the same time, Ted Gioia’s The Honest Broker has also tackled the issue of fake artists on streaming, which Liz Pelly also writes about – the increasing use of stock music in playlists provided by companies that specialise in background music created by session musicians paid a fixed fee (well, until AI replaces them).
The reasons above highlight why independent human-curated playlists and mixtapes are of far greater value in music discovery today. What you hear on KLOF Mag is not based on “popularity” or profit-based models.
This week’s Monday Morning Brew playlist features Alabaster DePlume, Chicago Underground Trio, Sidi Touré, The Burning Hell, Puuluup, Dean Johnson, Clara Mann, Joshua Burnside, Chris Brain, Chuck Johnson, Lucy Roleff, Lisa Knapp & Gerry Diver, Laura Cannell, Will Stratton, Ben McElroy & Debbie Armour, Jim Ghedi, The Hermit and more.
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