Close All Tabs The Spotify Effect, Pt 1: Ghosts in the Playlist
Jun 4, 2025
Liz Pelly, a music journalist and the author of *Mood Machine*, dives into the transformative power of Spotify as it evolves from a basic music library to a data-driven platform tailored to user moods. She discusses the rise of 'ghost artists' and the ethical concerns surrounding music authenticity. Pelly reveals how personalized playlists shift our relationship with music, leading to a potential loss of intimacy in listening. Plus, she creatively explores the mystery of whether she's being haunted by Sabrina Carpenter!
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Espresso Autoplay Mystery
- Morgan experienced repeated autoplay of Sabrina Carpenter's song "Espresso" despite varied listening contexts.
- This sparked widespread internet conspiracy theories about manipulation by Spotify or artists' teams.
Spotify's Predictive Playlists
- Spotify predicts songs users are unlikely to skip based on past listening behavior, not necessarily showing personal favorites.
- Recommendations are driven by statistical likelihood to retain users, not by intuition of taste.
Spotify's Lean Back Shift
- Spotify shifted from a search-based library to mood-driven, curated playlists focusing on 'lean back' listening.
- Playlists now target moments and moods, not just music discovery or artist-focused listening.
