
Mood Machine
The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $20.24
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Liz Pelly
-
By:
-
Liz Pelly
About this listen
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.
©2025 Liz Pelly (P)2025 Simon & Schuster AudioListeners also enjoyed...
-
Filterworld
- How Algorithms Flattened Culture
- By: Kyle Chayka
- Narrated by: Kaleo Griffith
- Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From trendy restaurants to city grids, to TikTok and Netflix feeds the world round, algorithmic recommendations dictate our experiences and choices. The algorithm is present in the familiar neon signs and exposed brick of Internet cafes, be it in Nairobi or Portland, and the skeletal, modern furniture of Airbnbs in cities big and small. Over the last decade, this network of mathematically determined decisions has taken over, almost unnoticed—informing the songs we listen to, the friends with whom we stay in touch—as we’ve grown increasingly accustomed to our insipid new normal.
-
-
pretty boring
- By Amazon Customer on 02-15-24
By: Kyle Chayka
-
Original Sin
- President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again
- By: Jake Tapper, Alex Thompson
- Narrated by: Jake Tapper
- Length: 10 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From two of America’s most respected journalists, an unflinching and explosive reckoning with one of the most fateful decisions in American political history: Joe Biden’s run for reelection despite evidence of his serious decline—amid desperate efforts to hide the extent of that deterioration
By: Jake Tapper, and others
-
Careless People
- A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism
- By: Sarah Wynn-Williams
- Narrated by: Sarah Wynn-Williams
- Length: 13 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From trips on private jets and encounters with world leaders to shocking accounts of misogyny and double standards behind the scenes, this searing memoir exposes both the personal and the political fallout when unfettered power and a rotten company culture take hold. In a gripping and often absurd narrative where a few people carelessly hold the world in their hands, this eye-opening memoir reveals what really goes on among the global elite.
-
-
Only a few hours in
- By Cody Konior on 03-24-25
-
The Killing Fields of East New York
- The First Subprime Mortgage Scandal, a White-Collar Crime Spree, and the Collapse of an American Neighborhood
- By: Stacy Horn
- Narrated by: EJ Lavery
- Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On a warm summer evening in 1991, seventeen-year-old Julia Parker was murdered in the Brooklyn neighborhood of East New York. An area known for an exorbitant level of violence and crime, East New York had come to be known as the Killing Fields. In the six months after Julia Parker’s death, 62 more people were murdered in the same area. In the early 1990s, murder rates in the neighborhood climbed to the highest in NYPD history. East New York was dying. But how did this once thriving, diverse, family neighborhood fall into such ruin?
-
-
Clear description of a muddy subject
- By Amy D. on 02-24-25
By: Stacy Horn
-
Superbloom
- How Technologies of Connection Tear Us Apart
- By: Nicholas Carr
- Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
- Length: 9 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the telegraph and telephone in the 1800s to the internet and social media in our own day, the public has welcomed new communication systems. Whenever people gain more power to share information, the assumption goes, society prospers. Superbloom tells a startlingly different story. As communication becomes more mechanized and efficient, it breeds confusion more than understanding, strife more than harmony. Media technologies all too often bring out the worst in us.
-
-
Humanity is really doomed, eh?
- By Classical Ideas Podcast on 02-14-25
By: Nicholas Carr
-
Aflame
- Learning from Silence
- By: Pico Iyer
- Narrated by: Pico Iyer
- Length: 4 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pico Iyer has made more than one hundred retreats over the past three decades to a small Benedictine hermitage high above the sea in Big Sur, California. He’s not a Christian—or a member of any religious group—but his life has been transformed by these periods of time spent in silence. That silence reminds him of what is essential and awakens a joy that nothing can efface. It’s not just freedom from distraction and noise and rush: it’s a reminder of some deeper truths he misplaced along the way. In Aflame, Iyer connects with inner stillness and joy in his many seasons at the monastery.
-
-
The title is misleading. The book doesn't explore "silence" but only talks about being on tge periphery of monasteries.
- By Placeholder on 01-26-25
By: Pico Iyer
-
Filterworld
- How Algorithms Flattened Culture
- By: Kyle Chayka
- Narrated by: Kaleo Griffith
- Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From trendy restaurants to city grids, to TikTok and Netflix feeds the world round, algorithmic recommendations dictate our experiences and choices. The algorithm is present in the familiar neon signs and exposed brick of Internet cafes, be it in Nairobi or Portland, and the skeletal, modern furniture of Airbnbs in cities big and small. Over the last decade, this network of mathematically determined decisions has taken over, almost unnoticed—informing the songs we listen to, the friends with whom we stay in touch—as we’ve grown increasingly accustomed to our insipid new normal.
-
-
pretty boring
- By Amazon Customer on 02-15-24
By: Kyle Chayka
-
Original Sin
- President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again
- By: Jake Tapper, Alex Thompson
- Narrated by: Jake Tapper
- Length: 10 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From two of America’s most respected journalists, an unflinching and explosive reckoning with one of the most fateful decisions in American political history: Joe Biden’s run for reelection despite evidence of his serious decline—amid desperate efforts to hide the extent of that deterioration
By: Jake Tapper, and others
-
Careless People
- A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism
- By: Sarah Wynn-Williams
- Narrated by: Sarah Wynn-Williams
- Length: 13 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From trips on private jets and encounters with world leaders to shocking accounts of misogyny and double standards behind the scenes, this searing memoir exposes both the personal and the political fallout when unfettered power and a rotten company culture take hold. In a gripping and often absurd narrative where a few people carelessly hold the world in their hands, this eye-opening memoir reveals what really goes on among the global elite.
-
-
Only a few hours in
- By Cody Konior on 03-24-25
-
The Killing Fields of East New York
- The First Subprime Mortgage Scandal, a White-Collar Crime Spree, and the Collapse of an American Neighborhood
- By: Stacy Horn
- Narrated by: EJ Lavery
- Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On a warm summer evening in 1991, seventeen-year-old Julia Parker was murdered in the Brooklyn neighborhood of East New York. An area known for an exorbitant level of violence and crime, East New York had come to be known as the Killing Fields. In the six months after Julia Parker’s death, 62 more people were murdered in the same area. In the early 1990s, murder rates in the neighborhood climbed to the highest in NYPD history. East New York was dying. But how did this once thriving, diverse, family neighborhood fall into such ruin?
-
-
Clear description of a muddy subject
- By Amy D. on 02-24-25
By: Stacy Horn
-
Superbloom
- How Technologies of Connection Tear Us Apart
- By: Nicholas Carr
- Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
- Length: 9 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the telegraph and telephone in the 1800s to the internet and social media in our own day, the public has welcomed new communication systems. Whenever people gain more power to share information, the assumption goes, society prospers. Superbloom tells a startlingly different story. As communication becomes more mechanized and efficient, it breeds confusion more than understanding, strife more than harmony. Media technologies all too often bring out the worst in us.
-
-
Humanity is really doomed, eh?
- By Classical Ideas Podcast on 02-14-25
By: Nicholas Carr
-
Aflame
- Learning from Silence
- By: Pico Iyer
- Narrated by: Pico Iyer
- Length: 4 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pico Iyer has made more than one hundred retreats over the past three decades to a small Benedictine hermitage high above the sea in Big Sur, California. He’s not a Christian—or a member of any religious group—but his life has been transformed by these periods of time spent in silence. That silence reminds him of what is essential and awakens a joy that nothing can efface. It’s not just freedom from distraction and noise and rush: it’s a reminder of some deeper truths he misplaced along the way. In Aflame, Iyer connects with inner stillness and joy in his many seasons at the monastery.
-
-
The title is misleading. The book doesn't explore "silence" but only talks about being on tge periphery of monasteries.
- By Placeholder on 01-26-25
By: Pico Iyer
-
Y2K
- How the 2000s Became Everything (Essays on the Future That Never Was)
- By: Colette Shade
- Narrated by: Eva Kaminsky
- Length: 7 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
THE EARLY 2000s conjures images of inflatable furniture, flip phones, and low-rise jeans. It was a new millennium and the future looked bright, promising prosperity for all. The internet had arrived, and technology was shiny and fun. For many, it felt like the end of history: no more wars, racism, or sexism. But then history kept happening. Twenty-five years after the ball dropped on December 31st, 1999, we are still living in the shadows of the Y2K Era.
-
-
Not brilliant but entertaining
- By joan Morell on 02-05-25
By: Colette Shade
-
Abundance
- By: Ezra Klein, Derek Thompson
- Narrated by: Ezra Klein, Derek Thompson
- Length: 7 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
To trace the history of the twenty-first century so far is to trace a history of unaffordability and shortage. After years of refusing to build sufficient housing, America has a national housing crisis. After years of limiting immigration, we don’t have enough workers. Despite decades of being warned about the consequences of climate change, we haven’t built anything close to the clean-energy infrastructure we need. Ambitious public projects are finished late and over budget—if they are ever finished at all.
-
-
Bold new ideas for a better future
- By Edward Swing on 03-19-25
By: Ezra Klein, and others
-
Offshore
- Stealth Wealth and the New Colonialism
- By: Brooke Harrington
- Narrated by: Jennifer Walden
- Length: 4 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How do the rich keep getting richer, while dodging the long arm of the law? The ultra-rich seem to live in a different world from the rest of us. That world is called offshore. Hidden from view, the world's ultra-rich can use offshore finance to escape tax obligations, labor and environmental safety regulations, campaign finance rules, and other laws that get in their way.
-
-
Informative
- By Seattle mom on 03-02-25
-
The Money Trap
- Lost Illusions Inside the Tech Bubble
- By: Alok Sama
- Narrated by: Raza Jaffrey
- Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Veteran Morgan Stanley banker Alok Sama thought he'd seen it all. Then he found himself chief dealmaker at the most influential technology investor in the world—SoftBank, the backer of Arm Holdings, Yahoo, Nvidia, TikTok, Uber, T-Mobile, Alibaba and WeWork. The Money Trap is Sama’s thrilling, stranger-than-fiction personal odyssey featuring his experiences alongside SoftBank’s iconic founder, Masayoshi Son, a visionary maverick who wants to be remembered as “the crazy guy who bet on the future” and whose mission is “happiness for everyone.”
-
-
Finally a book I can recommend
- By Fadi Awni Abu-Shamat on 01-22-25
By: Alok Sama
-
Catching the Big Fish
- Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity
- By: David Lynch
- Narrated by: David Lynch
- Length: 1 hr and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
David Lynch’s Catching the Big Fish provides a rare window into the internationally acclaimed filmmaker’s methods as an artist, his personal working style, and the immense creative benefits he has experienced from the practice of meditation.
-
-
Interesting insight into Lynch's creative process
- By Jessica on 10-11-10
By: David Lynch
-
Severance
- A Novel
- By: Ling Ma
- Narrated by: Nancy Wu
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Candace Chen, a millennial drone self-sequestered in a Manhattan office tower, is devoted to routine. With the recent passing of her Chinese immigrant parents, she’s had her fill of uncertainty. She’s content just to carry on: She goes to work, troubleshoots the teen-targeted Gemstone Bible, watches movies in a Greenpoint basement with her boyfriend. So Candace barely notices when a plague of biblical proportions sweeps New York.
-
-
4.19 stars
- By ibillinsly@gmail on 12-06-18
By: Ling Ma
-
Character Limit
- How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter
- By: Kate Conger, Ryan Mac
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 15 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The billionaire entrepreneur and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has become inextricable from the social media platform that until 2023 was known as Twitter. Started in the mid-2000s as a playful microblogging platform, Twitter quickly became a vital nexus of global politics, culture, and media—where the retweet button could instantly catapult any idea to hundreds of millions of screens around the world, unleashing raw collective emotion like nothing else before.
-
-
Depressing but engrossing
- By Jason Jablonski on 10-25-24
By: Kate Conger, and others
-
You'll Never Believe Me
- A Life of Lies, Second Tries, and Things I Should Only Tell My Therapist
- By: Kari Ferrell
- Narrated by: Kari Ferrell
- Length: 6 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Before Anna Delvey, before the Tinder Swindler, there was Kari Ferrell. Adopted at a young age by a Mormon family in Utah, Kari struggled with questions of self-worth and identity as one of the few Asian Americans in her insulated community, leading her to run with the “bad crowd” in an effort to fit in. Soon, stealing from superstores turned into picking up men (and picking their pockets), and before she knew it, Kari had graduated from petty theft to Utah’s most wanted list. Though Kari was able to escape the Southwest, she couldn’t outrun her new moniker: the Hipster Grifter.
-
-
Very interested and perfect the way she didn’t do too long in one area
- By Amazon Customer on 03-31-25
By: Kari Ferrell
-
One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This
- By: Omar El Akkad
- Narrated by: Omar El Akkad
- Length: 5 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As an immigrant who came to the West, El Akkad believed that it promised freedom. A place of justice for all. But in the past twenty years, reporting on the War on Terror, Ferguson, climate change, Black Lives Matter protests, and more, and watching the unmitigated slaughter in Gaza, El Akkad has come to the conclusion that much of what the West promises is a lie. That there will always be entire groups of human beings it has never intended to treat as fully human—not just Arabs or Muslims or immigrants, but whoever falls outside the boundaries of privilege.
-
-
Outstanding - Should be required reading
- By Steve Siegmund on 03-19-25
By: Omar El Akkad
-
Dealers of Lightning
- Xerox PARC and the Dawn of the Computer Age
- By: Michael Hiltzik
- Narrated by: Forrest Sawyer
- Length: 5 hrs and 52 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The riveting story of the legendary Xerox PARC, a collection of eccentric young inventors brought together by Xerox Corporation at a facility in Palo Alto, California, during the mind-blowing intellectual ferment of the '70s and '80s.
-
-
Audio quality is bad, story is awe inducing
- By David Phillips on 01-14-15
By: Michael Hiltzik
-
Technofeudalism
- What Killed Capitalism
- By: Yanis Varoufakis
- Narrated by: Yanis Varoufakis
- Length: 7 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Technofeudalism says Yanis Varoufakis, is the new power that is reshaping our lives and the world, and is the greatest current threat to the liberal individual, to our efforts to avert climate catastrophe—and to democracy itself. It also lies behind the new geopolitical tensions, especially the New Cold War between the United States and China. Drawing on stories from Greek myth and pop culture, from Homer to Mad Men, Varoufakis explains this revolutionary transformation: how it enslaves our minds, how it rewrites the rules of global power, and, ultimately, what it will take overthrow it.
-
-
A non-academic, non-evidence-based look at big tech
- By Anonymous User on 08-31-24
By: Yanis Varoufakis
-
This Is What It Sounds Like
- What the Music You Love Says About You
- By: Ogi Ogas, Susan Rogers
- Narrated by: Susan Rogers
- Length: 8 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When you listen to music, do you prefer lyrics or melody? Intricate harmonies or driving rhythm? The “real” sounds of acoustic instruments or those of computerized synthesizers? Drawing from her successful career as a music producer (engineering hits like Prince’s “Purple Rain”), professor of cognitive neuroscience Susan Rogers reveals why your favorite songs move you. She explains that we each possess a unique “listener profile” based on our brain’s reaction to seven key dimensions of any record: authenticity, realism, novelty, melody, lyrics, rhythm, and timbre.
-
-
Needed to include the music
- By Sarah on 01-18-23
By: Ogi Ogas, and others
Related to this topic
-
Take Control of Your Life
- How to Silence Fear and Win the Mental Game
- By: Mel Robbins
- Narrated by: Mel Robbins
- Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mel Robbins is back! The international bestselling phenomenon and creator of The Five Second Rule and Kick Ass with Mel Robbins returns to help you tackle the single biggest obstacle you face: fear. This life-changing Audible Original features a powerful mix of one-on-one life-coaching sessions and a personal narrative with vital take-aways that you can start using immediately.
-
-
Stop living in fear
- By Nike7 on 02-08-19
By: Mel Robbins
-
The Art of War
- By: Sun Tzu
- Narrated by: Aidan Gillen
- Length: 1 hr and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The 13 chapters of The Art of War, each devoted to one aspect of warfare, were compiled by the high-ranking Chinese military general, strategist, and philosopher Sun-Tzu. In spite of its battlefield specificity, The Art of War has found new life in the modern age, with leaders in fields as wide and far-reaching as world politics, human psychology, and corporate strategy finding valuable insight in its timeworn words.
-
-
The actual book The Art of War, not a commentary
- By Nemo71 on 12-31-19
By: Sun Tzu
-
Never Finished
- Unshackle Your Mind and Win the War Within
- By: David Goggins
- Narrated by: David Goggins, Adam Skolnick, Jacqueline Gardner
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Can’t Hurt Me, David Goggins’ smash hit memoir, demonstrated how much untapped ability we all have but was merely an introduction to the power of the mind. In Never Finished, Goggins takes you inside his Mental Lab, where he developed the philosophy, psychology, and strategies that enabled him to learn that what he thought was his limit was only his beginning and that the quest for greatness is unending.
-
-
He did it again!
- By Christian C. on 12-06-22
By: David Goggins
-
The High 5 Habit
- Take Control of Your Life with One Simple Habit
- By: Mel Robbins
- Narrated by: Mel Robbins
- Length: 6 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Don't let the title fool you. This isn't a book about high fiving everyone else in your life. You're already doing that. Cheering for your favorite teams. Celebrating your friends. Supporting the people you love as they go after what they want in life. Imagine if you gave that same love and encouragement to yourself. Or even better, you made it a daily habit. You'd be unstoppable. In this book, Mel teaches you how to start high fiving the most important person in your life, the one who is staring back at you in the mirror: YOURSELF.
-
-
Narrator issues.
- By Jesse on 10-05-21
By: Mel Robbins
-
Traction
- Get a Grip on Your Business
- By: Gino Wickman
- Narrated by: Kevin Pierce
- Length: 6 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Do you have a grip on your business, or does your business have a grip on you? All entrepreneurs and business leaders face similar frustrations: personnel conflict, profit woes, and inadequate growth. Decisions never seem to get made, or once made, fail to be properly implemented. But there is a solution. It’s not complicated or theoretical.
-
-
this is for 50+ employee companies, not small ones
- By Ryan Taft on 03-06-18
By: Gino Wickman
-
Going Infinite
- The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon
- By: Michael Lewis
- Narrated by: Michael Lewis
- Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Michael Lewis first met him, Sam Bankman-Fried was the world’s youngest billionaire and crypto’s Gatsby. CEOs, celebrities, and leaders of small countries all vied for his time and cash after he catapulted, practically overnight, onto the Forbes billionaire list. Who was this rumpled guy in cargo shorts and limp white socks, whose eyes twitched across Zoom meetings as he played video games on the side?
-
-
really expected more rigor from Michael Lewis
- By Wowhello on 10-04-23
By: Michael Lewis
-
Take Control of Your Life
- How to Silence Fear and Win the Mental Game
- By: Mel Robbins
- Narrated by: Mel Robbins
- Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mel Robbins is back! The international bestselling phenomenon and creator of The Five Second Rule and Kick Ass with Mel Robbins returns to help you tackle the single biggest obstacle you face: fear. This life-changing Audible Original features a powerful mix of one-on-one life-coaching sessions and a personal narrative with vital take-aways that you can start using immediately.
-
-
Stop living in fear
- By Nike7 on 02-08-19
By: Mel Robbins
-
The Art of War
- By: Sun Tzu
- Narrated by: Aidan Gillen
- Length: 1 hr and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The 13 chapters of The Art of War, each devoted to one aspect of warfare, were compiled by the high-ranking Chinese military general, strategist, and philosopher Sun-Tzu. In spite of its battlefield specificity, The Art of War has found new life in the modern age, with leaders in fields as wide and far-reaching as world politics, human psychology, and corporate strategy finding valuable insight in its timeworn words.
-
-
The actual book The Art of War, not a commentary
- By Nemo71 on 12-31-19
By: Sun Tzu
-
Never Finished
- Unshackle Your Mind and Win the War Within
- By: David Goggins
- Narrated by: David Goggins, Adam Skolnick, Jacqueline Gardner
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Can’t Hurt Me, David Goggins’ smash hit memoir, demonstrated how much untapped ability we all have but was merely an introduction to the power of the mind. In Never Finished, Goggins takes you inside his Mental Lab, where he developed the philosophy, psychology, and strategies that enabled him to learn that what he thought was his limit was only his beginning and that the quest for greatness is unending.
-
-
He did it again!
- By Christian C. on 12-06-22
By: David Goggins
-
The High 5 Habit
- Take Control of Your Life with One Simple Habit
- By: Mel Robbins
- Narrated by: Mel Robbins
- Length: 6 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Don't let the title fool you. This isn't a book about high fiving everyone else in your life. You're already doing that. Cheering for your favorite teams. Celebrating your friends. Supporting the people you love as they go after what they want in life. Imagine if you gave that same love and encouragement to yourself. Or even better, you made it a daily habit. You'd be unstoppable. In this book, Mel teaches you how to start high fiving the most important person in your life, the one who is staring back at you in the mirror: YOURSELF.
-
-
Narrator issues.
- By Jesse on 10-05-21
By: Mel Robbins
-
Traction
- Get a Grip on Your Business
- By: Gino Wickman
- Narrated by: Kevin Pierce
- Length: 6 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Do you have a grip on your business, or does your business have a grip on you? All entrepreneurs and business leaders face similar frustrations: personnel conflict, profit woes, and inadequate growth. Decisions never seem to get made, or once made, fail to be properly implemented. But there is a solution. It’s not complicated or theoretical.
-
-
this is for 50+ employee companies, not small ones
- By Ryan Taft on 03-06-18
By: Gino Wickman
-
Going Infinite
- The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon
- By: Michael Lewis
- Narrated by: Michael Lewis
- Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Michael Lewis first met him, Sam Bankman-Fried was the world’s youngest billionaire and crypto’s Gatsby. CEOs, celebrities, and leaders of small countries all vied for his time and cash after he catapulted, practically overnight, onto the Forbes billionaire list. Who was this rumpled guy in cargo shorts and limp white socks, whose eyes twitched across Zoom meetings as he played video games on the side?
-
-
really expected more rigor from Michael Lewis
- By Wowhello on 10-04-23
By: Michael Lewis
-
The Daily Stoic
- 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living
- By: Ryan Holiday, Stephen Hanselman
- Narrated by: Brian Holsopple
- Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why have history's greatest minds - from George Washington to Frederick the Great to Ralph Waldo Emerson along with today's top performers, from Super Bowl-winning football coaches to CEOs and celebrities - embraced the wisdom of the ancient Stoics? Because they realize that the most valuable wisdom is timeless and that philosophy is for living a better life, not a classroom exercise. The Daily Stoic offers a daily devotional of Stoic insights and exercises, featuring all-new translations.
-
-
Not well made as audio
- By Andreas on 12-27-16
By: Ryan Holiday, and others
-
The 6 Habits of Growth
- By: Brendon Burchard
- Narrated by: Brendon Burchard
- Length: 5 hrs and 4 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The world’s leading high-performance coach and multiple New York Times best-selling author Brendon Burchard delivers the six habits of personal growth that will help you create the life of your dreams. Forged from Brendon Burchard’s personal experiences, data from his GrowthDay app, and his many years as a high-performance coach, The 6 Habits of Growth presents the tools you need to construct the life of your dreams.
-
-
Don’t bother
- By B. Sharpe on 10-30-22
By: Brendon Burchard
-
Kick Ass with Mel Robbins
- Life-Changing Advice from the Author of “The 5 Second Rule”
- By: Mel Robbins
- Narrated by: Mel Robbins
- Length: 6 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Want more out of life? You're not alone. And best-selling author Mel Robbins is here to help with no-bullshit life and business advice that you won't get anywhere else. This follow-up to The 5-Second Rule - available only in audio - takes the classic talk-show format and elevates it to a premium audio experience. Listen to private, one-on-one coaching sessions between the celebrated motivational speaker and people like you - people who want better relationships, to be healthier and more productive, to get unstuck from destructive habits.
-
-
A $26 Podcast
- By Sam Cochrane on 06-01-18
By: Mel Robbins
-
Brand Yourself for Success
- By: Octavia Goredema, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Octavia Goredema
- Length: 2 hrs and 35 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Your career is one of the most important investments you’ll ever make. But how can you communicate your value and make it stand out in an increasingly fast-paced, competitive, and media-driven business world? According to career coach and author Octavia Goredema, the key to accomplishing your professional goals is to create a consistent and compelling personal brand that highlights your skills, accomplishments, and personality. And that is just what she will teach you to do in the five lessons of Brand Yourself for Success.
-
-
Level Up Yourself
- By A. Mac on 04-03-25
By: Octavia Goredema, and others
-
Los secretos de la mente millonaria (Narración en Castellano) [Secrets of the Millionaire Mind]
- Domina el juego de la riqueza [Mastering the Inner Game of Wealth]
- By: T. Harv Eker
- Narrated by: Ivan Villanueva
- Length: 2 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
El autor estaba en bancarrota, en solo dos años y medio se convirtió en millonario y construyó una de las más grandes firmas de consultoría para el éxito. Con sus enseñanzas ha tocado la vida de millones de personas. Este audiolibro te enseña a observar como piensas. Es un reto a tus ideas que te limitan, a los razonamientos que no te apoyan y a tus acciones con respecto al dinero.
-
-
El libro está bien, pero ES VERSION RESUMIDA
- By alexnvlp on 08-24-23
By: T. Harv Eker
-
12 Months to $1 Million
- How to Pick a Winning Product, Build a Real Business, and Become a Seven-Figure Entrepreneur
- By: Ryan Daniel Moran
- Narrated by: Ryan Daniel Moran
- Length: 7 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By cutting out the noise and providing a clear and proven plan, this road map helps even brand-new entrepreneurs make decisions quickly, get their product up for sale, and launch it to a crowd that is ready and waiting to buy. This one-year plan will guide you through the three stages to your first $1 million: the Grind (months 0-4), the Growth (months 5-8), and the Gold (months 9-12). If your goal is to be a full-time entrepreneur, get ready for one chaotic, stressful, and rewarding year. If you have the guts to complete it, you will be the proud owner of a million-dollar business.
-
-
Good, but a Little Misleading
- By Chris Love on 11-28-20
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Pretend We're Dead
- The Rise, Fall, and Resurrection of Women in Rock in the '90s
- By: Tanya Pearson
- Narrated by: Kendra Hoffman, Carrington MacDuffie, Suehyla El-Attar
- Length: 7 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2018, during an interview with journalist Tanya Pearson, Shirley Manson lamented: "It’s a blanket fact that after September 11th, nonconformist women were taken off the radio.” This comment echoed a reality Pearson had personally witnessed as a musician and a fan, and launched her into a quest to figure out just what happened to these extraordinary female figures. Pretend We’re Dead seeks to answer two big questions.
-
-
The well investigated content and personal interviews
- By meg jones on 01-29-25
By: Tanya Pearson
-
99% Perspiration
- A New Working History of the American Way of Life
- By: Adam Chandler
- Narrated by: Adam Chandler
- Length: 8 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
“Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.” This phrase, arguably Thomas Edison’s most famous quote, has been drilled into the minds of generations of Americans. A fairly straightforward iteration of the idea that innovation, discovery, and ingenuity are the result of drive and grit above all, it has also come to represent much darker myths: that hard work always leads to success and that achievement is the product of individuals and not communities.
-
-
Interesting
- By Ed Wojcicki on 03-21-25
By: Adam Chandler
-
Recognizing the Stranger
- On Palestine and Narrative
- By: Isabella Hammad
- Narrated by: Isabella Hammad
- Length: 2 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Isabella Hammad delivered the Edward W. Said Memorial Lecture at Columbia University nine days before October 7th, 2023. The text of Hammad’s seminal speech and her afterword, written in the early weeks of 2024, together make up a searing appraisal of the war on Palestine during what seems a turning point in the narrative of human history. Profound and moving, Hammad writes from within the moment, shedding light on the Palestinian struggle for freedom.
-
-
Not that insightful
- By LitCrit on 12-07-24
By: Isabella Hammad
-
Y2K
- How the 2000s Became Everything (Essays on the Future That Never Was)
- By: Colette Shade
- Narrated by: Eva Kaminsky
- Length: 7 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
THE EARLY 2000s conjures images of inflatable furniture, flip phones, and low-rise jeans. It was a new millennium and the future looked bright, promising prosperity for all. The internet had arrived, and technology was shiny and fun. For many, it felt like the end of history: no more wars, racism, or sexism. But then history kept happening. Twenty-five years after the ball dropped on December 31st, 1999, we are still living in the shadows of the Y2K Era.
-
-
Not brilliant but entertaining
- By joan Morell on 02-05-25
By: Colette Shade
-
This Is What It Sounds Like
- What the Music You Love Says About You
- By: Ogi Ogas, Susan Rogers
- Narrated by: Susan Rogers
- Length: 8 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When you listen to music, do you prefer lyrics or melody? Intricate harmonies or driving rhythm? The “real” sounds of acoustic instruments or those of computerized synthesizers? Drawing from her successful career as a music producer (engineering hits like Prince’s “Purple Rain”), professor of cognitive neuroscience Susan Rogers reveals why your favorite songs move you. She explains that we each possess a unique “listener profile” based on our brain’s reaction to seven key dimensions of any record: authenticity, realism, novelty, melody, lyrics, rhythm, and timbre.
-
-
Needed to include the music
- By Sarah on 01-18-23
By: Ogi Ogas, and others
-
Poets Square
- A Memoir in Thirty Cats
- By: Courtney Gustafson
- Narrated by: Courtney Gustafson
- Length: 6 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Courtney Gustafson moved into a rental house in the Poets Square neighborhood of Tucson, Arizona, she didn’t know that the property came with thirty feral cats. Focused only on her own survival—in a new relationship, during a pandemic, with poor mental health and a job that didn’t pay enough—Courtney was reluctant to spend any of her own time or money caring for the wayward animals.
-
Pretend We're Dead
- The Rise, Fall, and Resurrection of Women in Rock in the '90s
- By: Tanya Pearson
- Narrated by: Kendra Hoffman, Carrington MacDuffie, Suehyla El-Attar
- Length: 7 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2018, during an interview with journalist Tanya Pearson, Shirley Manson lamented: "It’s a blanket fact that after September 11th, nonconformist women were taken off the radio.” This comment echoed a reality Pearson had personally witnessed as a musician and a fan, and launched her into a quest to figure out just what happened to these extraordinary female figures. Pretend We’re Dead seeks to answer two big questions.
-
-
The well investigated content and personal interviews
- By meg jones on 01-29-25
By: Tanya Pearson
-
99% Perspiration
- A New Working History of the American Way of Life
- By: Adam Chandler
- Narrated by: Adam Chandler
- Length: 8 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
“Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.” This phrase, arguably Thomas Edison’s most famous quote, has been drilled into the minds of generations of Americans. A fairly straightforward iteration of the idea that innovation, discovery, and ingenuity are the result of drive and grit above all, it has also come to represent much darker myths: that hard work always leads to success and that achievement is the product of individuals and not communities.
-
-
Interesting
- By Ed Wojcicki on 03-21-25
By: Adam Chandler
-
Recognizing the Stranger
- On Palestine and Narrative
- By: Isabella Hammad
- Narrated by: Isabella Hammad
- Length: 2 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Isabella Hammad delivered the Edward W. Said Memorial Lecture at Columbia University nine days before October 7th, 2023. The text of Hammad’s seminal speech and her afterword, written in the early weeks of 2024, together make up a searing appraisal of the war on Palestine during what seems a turning point in the narrative of human history. Profound and moving, Hammad writes from within the moment, shedding light on the Palestinian struggle for freedom.
-
-
Not that insightful
- By LitCrit on 12-07-24
By: Isabella Hammad
-
Y2K
- How the 2000s Became Everything (Essays on the Future That Never Was)
- By: Colette Shade
- Narrated by: Eva Kaminsky
- Length: 7 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
THE EARLY 2000s conjures images of inflatable furniture, flip phones, and low-rise jeans. It was a new millennium and the future looked bright, promising prosperity for all. The internet had arrived, and technology was shiny and fun. For many, it felt like the end of history: no more wars, racism, or sexism. But then history kept happening. Twenty-five years after the ball dropped on December 31st, 1999, we are still living in the shadows of the Y2K Era.
-
-
Not brilliant but entertaining
- By joan Morell on 02-05-25
By: Colette Shade
-
This Is What It Sounds Like
- What the Music You Love Says About You
- By: Ogi Ogas, Susan Rogers
- Narrated by: Susan Rogers
- Length: 8 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When you listen to music, do you prefer lyrics or melody? Intricate harmonies or driving rhythm? The “real” sounds of acoustic instruments or those of computerized synthesizers? Drawing from her successful career as a music producer (engineering hits like Prince’s “Purple Rain”), professor of cognitive neuroscience Susan Rogers reveals why your favorite songs move you. She explains that we each possess a unique “listener profile” based on our brain’s reaction to seven key dimensions of any record: authenticity, realism, novelty, melody, lyrics, rhythm, and timbre.
-
-
Needed to include the music
- By Sarah on 01-18-23
By: Ogi Ogas, and others
-
Poets Square
- A Memoir in Thirty Cats
- By: Courtney Gustafson
- Narrated by: Courtney Gustafson
- Length: 6 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Courtney Gustafson moved into a rental house in the Poets Square neighborhood of Tucson, Arizona, she didn’t know that the property came with thirty feral cats. Focused only on her own survival—in a new relationship, during a pandemic, with poor mental health and a job that didn’t pay enough—Courtney was reluctant to spend any of her own time or money caring for the wayward animals.
-
Against Platforms
- Surviving Digital Utopia (Activist Citizens Library)
- By: Mike Pepi
- Narrated by: Tim Andres Pabon
- Length: 8 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the turn of the millennium, digital technologies seemed to have immense promise for transforming our society. With these powerful new tools, the thinking went, we would be free to live our best lives, connected to our communities in ways full of infinite potential. A quarter of a century on, this form of utopianism seems like a cruel mirage. So what happened? In Against Platforms, technologist and creator Mike Pepi lays out an explanation of what went wrong—and a manifesto for putting it right.
-
-
Debunks common techno-utopian shibboleths
- By north3001 on 03-01-25
By: Mike Pepi
-
Information Architecture
- For the Web and Beyond
- By: Louis Rosenfeld, Peter Morville, Jorge Arango
- Narrated by: Theodore O'Brien
- Length: 11 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Information architecture (IA) is far more challenging - and necessary - than ever. To guide you through this broad ecosystem, this popular guide - now in its fourth edition - provides essential concepts, methods, and techniques for digital design that have withstood the test of time. UX designers, product managers, developers, and anyone involved in digital design will learn how to create semantic structures that will help people engage with your message.
-
-
Well organized and right to the points
- By Coco on 06-08-23
By: Louis Rosenfeld, and others
-
Superagency
- What Could Possibly Go Right with Our AI Future
- By: Reid Hoffman, Greg Beato
- Narrated by: Scott Wallace
- Length: 7 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Superagency offers a roadmap for using AI inclusively and adaptively to improve our lives and create positive change. While acknowledging challenges like disinformation and potential job changes, the book focuses on AI’s immense potential to increase individual agency and create better outcomes for society as a whole. Imagine AI tutors personalizing education for each child, researchers rapidly discovering cures for diseases like Alzheimer's and cancer, and AI advisors empowering people to navigate complex systems and achieve their goals.
By: Reid Hoffman, and others
-
Mindmasters (Anna Caputo version)
- The Data-Driven Science of Predicting and Changing Human Behavior
- By: Sandra Matz
- Narrated by: Anna Caputo
- Length: 6 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Columbia Business School professor Sandra Matz reveals in fascinating detail how big data offers insights into the most intimate aspects of our psyches and how these insights empower an external influence over the choices we make. This can be creepy, manipulative, and downright harmful, with scandals like that of British consulting firm Cambridge Analytica being merely the tip of the iceberg.
-
-
boring redundant
- By Linda Mueller on 02-21-25
By: Sandra Matz
-
You'll Never Believe Me
- A Life of Lies, Second Tries, and Things I Should Only Tell My Therapist
- By: Kari Ferrell
- Narrated by: Kari Ferrell
- Length: 6 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Before Anna Delvey, before the Tinder Swindler, there was Kari Ferrell. Adopted at a young age by a Mormon family in Utah, Kari struggled with questions of self-worth and identity as one of the few Asian Americans in her insulated community, leading her to run with the “bad crowd” in an effort to fit in. Soon, stealing from superstores turned into picking up men (and picking their pockets), and before she knew it, Kari had graduated from petty theft to Utah’s most wanted list. Though Kari was able to escape the Southwest, she couldn’t outrun her new moniker: the Hipster Grifter.
-
-
Very interested and perfect the way she didn’t do too long in one area
- By Amazon Customer on 03-31-25
By: Kari Ferrell
-
And the Roots of Rhythm Remain
- ZE Series, Book 6
- By: Joe Boyd
- Narrated by: Joe Boyd
- Length: 40 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the legendary producer of Nick Drake, R.E.M., Toots and the Maytals, and Pink Floyd and author of White Bicycles: Making Music in the 1960s comes a riveting, world-spanning tour de force illuminating the artists, histories, controversies, and collaborations that shaped global music.
-
-
An incredible journey
- By Matt Cohen on 03-30-25
By: Joe Boyd
-
In Open Contempt
- Confronting White Supremacy in Art and Public Space
- By: Irvin Weathersby Jr.
- Narrated by: Irvin Weathersby Jr.
- Length: 6 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Amid the ongoing reckoning over America’s history of anti-Black racism, scores of monuments to slaveowners and Confederate soldiers still proudly dot the country’s landscape, while schools and street signs continue to bear the names of segregationists. With poignant, lyrical prose, cultural commentator Irvin Weathersby confronts the inescapable specter of white supremacy in our open spaces and contemplates what it means to bear witness to sites of lasting racial trauma.
-
-
Extraordinary
- By Adera Causey on 01-10-25
-
The Bright Side
- How Optimists Change the World, and How You Can Be One
- By: Sumit Paul-Choudhury
- Narrated by: Sumit Paul-Choudhury
- Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Scrolling through our daily newsfeeds we see violence and cruelty, turmoil and injustice, fake news and clickbait, and worsening environmental and social crises—just a few of the dark currents feeding a tidal wave of pessimism. In the face of so many challenges, how can we stay optimistic? And, more important, why should we? In The Bright Side, Sumit Paul-Choudhury answers these pressing questions, arguing that optimism is not only essential for overcoming the challenges we face, but also fundamental to human wellbeing
-
-
In Science and History we trust!
- By Cindee B Berry on 03-24-25
-
Spell Freedom
- The Underground Schools That Built the Civil Rights Movement
- By: Elaine Weiss
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 15 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The acclaimed author of the “stirring, definitive, and engrossing” (NPR) The Woman’s Hour returns with the story of four activists whose audacious plan to restore voting rights to Black Americans laid the groundwork for the Civil Rights Movement.
-
-
They kept on keepin’ on!
- By Janie on 03-15-25
By: Elaine Weiss
-
Character Limit
- How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter
- By: Kate Conger, Ryan Mac
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 15 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The billionaire entrepreneur and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has become inextricable from the social media platform that until 2023 was known as Twitter. Started in the mid-2000s as a playful microblogging platform, Twitter quickly became a vital nexus of global politics, culture, and media—where the retweet button could instantly catapult any idea to hundreds of millions of screens around the world, unleashing raw collective emotion like nothing else before.
-
-
Depressing but engrossing
- By Jason Jablonski on 10-25-24
By: Kate Conger, and others
-
Outraged
- Why We Fight About Morality and Politics and How to Find Common Ground
- By: Kurt Gray
- Narrated by: David Marantz
- Length: 13 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It’s easy to assume that liberals and conservatives have radically different moral foundations. In Outraged, Kurt Gray showcases the latest science to demonstrate that we all have the same moral mind—that everyone’s moral judgments stem from feeling threatened or vulnerable to harm, and provides a captivating new explanation for our moral outrage, and unpacks how to best bridge divides. If you want to understand the morals of the “other side,” ask yourself a simple question—what harms do they see?
-
-
Great book. Horrible narrator.
- By Sara Stall-Ryan on 02-22-25
By: Kurt Gray
-
A Problem From Hell
- America and the Age of Genocide
- By: Samantha Power
- Narrated by: Joyce Bean
- Length: 22 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In her award-winning interrogation of the last century of American history, Samantha Power - a former Balkan war correspondent and founding executive director of Harvard’s Carr Center for Human Rights Policy - asks the haunting question: Why do American leaders who vow “never again” repeatedly fail to stop genocide?
-
-
A dark lesson in dramatic irony
- By Andrew Palmer on 10-04-17
By: Samantha Power
What listeners say about Mood Machine
Highly rated for:
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Slater
- 02-11-25
Great Confirmation of Curation in Music
Enjoying this book overall, as an Artist Manager who works in licensing as well. This book is a great observation point on the music scape of Spotify and streaming. I believe after finishing this book, a great discourse is within approach of those who want to create change actively in the industry.
Thank you Liz for this overview!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Keith
- 01-21-25
Important Listen about the Future of Big Business
Let's address the elephant in the room. The narration here is rough. Very rough. I had to crank up the speed to 1.20x. It didn't fix the poor narration, but it certainly helped.
As for the book itself, Mood Machine is a scary, dense, meticulously researched preview of the techno nightmare to come. As as an illustrator working in a very non-art sector, I can say with certainty that the terrible businesses practices described in this book are not isolated to Spotify. Welcome to the 21st century. What Liz Pelly describes here is infecting your life whether you know it or not.
Personally, I'd like to see her tackle more company practices as the professional word is consumed subscription models and AI. What we see with Spotify is a microcosm of the modern business world. It started with music and spread to visual design (looking at subscription based art software) and that led to chain reaction reaching into many fields including aerospace.
Mood Machine is a great starting point to see where things started and a terrifying glimpse into what we can expect as companies grow larger and more controlling. While I don't agree with the author's ideas on how to combat this type of rampant greed, I respect her concepts and can understand where she is coming from. I also don't subscribe to the sweeping generalization that "capitalism is bad."
Unfortunately, many proposed solutions are simply too little, too late. But I think this is important reading because if people don't act, the widespread control that Spotify has over music and culture will spread to other corporations and sectors. As stated above, it's already started, and many people don't realize how much it affects their lives. Remember, if the business model works for Spotify, it will work for any other company looking to gain a stranglehold in their respective fields.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- George
- 02-13-25
A sad day for musicians
There were many things I liked about this book but in the end I was frustrated by the writer’s constant repetition and padding to make this a book rather than a news article. The most interesting parts were the early history of Spotify and the chapter on how they pay royalties.
She seems surprised that the streaming model for music listening did not benefit the artists as much as it did the record companies. Same as it ever was. The fact is that piracy and streaming music platforms have devalued music and unfortunately there is no turning back. I am so glad that years ago I decided to get a good paying job and continue to play and record the music I love and not cater to the music industry.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 01-17-25
I’m so glad someone wrote about this topic
Kudos to the author for doing the research and bringing this information to public light. “Spotify is the worst” is no hot new take, but I feel like this book highlighted that it is somehow even worse than we ever thought.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jorge Flores González
- 01-24-25
Important book for rethinking the way we treat music culture
Pelly makes a compelling case to rethink the way we consume music in the modern age. Digital "saviors", as has been the case with most aspects of culture, tend to devour something in order to maximize profit and Spotify is no different even if it claims it is so
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- daniel
- 01-16-25
Poor narration gets in the way
The material is well researched and the topics covered in the book illustrate how streaming platforms and major labels are ripping off artists and deceiving their customers. However, the narrator has two cadences that simply repeat through the entire reading, making this audiobook an unpleasant and difficult listening experience.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Alfredo
- 02-09-25
An Important Book
Every music lover and musician should read as we try to construct fairer systems of artistic development and music distribution.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 03-12-25
the secrets of spotify revealed!
what I loved about this book that Liz probably wrote so well, was how she detailed the different types of abuse that Spotify brought to the music business. There are so many insider secrets that you would never know as just a Spotify user, but after reading this book you can realize how much they have prayed on the system of both its users and it’s creators. Fascinating read!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Curtis T Barlage
- 02-19-25
Not just important and alarming insights into the music industry, but of society and culture
A must read for music lovers, makers and everything aside and in between. Not just important and alarming insights into the modern day streaming business and music industry, but of our modern day society and culture. A deep dive into a very detailed investigation by Liz Pelly about how consumerism and big business is, and has been, shaping our lives and how we consume art and creativity. I was glued to it chapter by chapter!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- NMwritergal
- 02-09-25
Intolerable audio narration--sing-song, upspeak...
...and vocal fry.
I cannot even HEAR the words though this horrendous audio narration. I am not kidding when I say that EVERY sentence ends in upseak, vocal fry, or an outright question when it's a statement.
Remember when Valley Girl-speak was a thing? Did we think it could get worse? We didn't but it did. I felt like someone who had never heard a foreigner speak English and I was confronted with a heavy accent, mispronunciations, emphasis in strange places so that I couldn't understand the speaker.
Her editors should be pelted with spit balls for allowing her to narrate her own book.
Also, sorry, I'm a woman so I feel bad saying this but how are we to take her seriously when she sounds like a 16-yr-old ditzy girl?
I'm returning this. Save your money/a credit and read this in print if the subject interests you.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful