Wildly different things, tasks, techniques, subspecialties being lumped into "AI" and then being conflated with each other, doesn't help. Different types of models vs the techniques to train them vs the tasks they are supposed to accomplish, all under "AI".

some topics we asked Anthony about on this ep include: - changing public perceptions of streaming in 2025 - on-screen music critics who get paid by labels & don’t disclose - if people who make video and audio material should be doing more to encourage people to read! subscribe to hear it all now

The season 1 finale of Critical Listening is now live for patrons and with us to send off the year we have none other than the internet’s busiest music nerd himself: Anthony Fantano. Subscribe and hear in full at patreon.com/criticallistening, see you in 2026!

grateful to everyone who put mood machine on a year-end books list but especially grateful to be on the Brooklyn Public Library's list! some of the most memorable times spent working on this book were at my local BPL branch discover.bklynlibrary.org?booklist=751...

ha ha ha ... pitchfork.com/features/lis...

thrilled to announce see/saw's top 54 punk + rock'n'roll records of 2025: a physical newsprint broadsheet. not publishing online! just got these on the doorstep today and I couldn't be happier with how they turned out. order a copy! happy holidays!

I miss your average altweekly's regional albums of the year list. Please send any you see my way.

a fav 2025 record you may have missed iykyk avaluna.bandcamp.com/album/ava-luna

On the new Techtonic I speak w/Noah McCormack from @thebaffler.com about his essay "We used to read things in this country." In the clip below Noah reveals one possible outcome of the AI bubble. Full episode: techtonic.fm/episodes/202...

one of my fav albums of the year. radical songs inspired by history, literature, imagining a less alienated world & woody. not ragebait memery haleyheynderickx.bandcamp.com/album/what-o...

grateful to grayson for loading the chamber on a topic i have not had the patience to write about myself currincy.substack.com/p/i-protest-...

Episode 9 LIVE at Purchase College is available now for all patrons and will be available on all major platforms besides the Swedish app next week alongside some Patreon-exclusive bonus content! www.patreon.com/posts/145104...

The 10 Best Albums of 2025 by @jennpelly.bsky.social time.com/7333797/best...

Jo justja jag var med i boken Mood machine av @lizpelly.bsky.social också. Kapitlet blev omslagsstory i Harper’s magazine. harpers.org/archive/2025... (bla bla bla sluta sluta Linus din tönt)

Min Spotify Wrapped är mest att jag figurerar i, samt bidragit med viss bakgrund till, en kritisk bok om Spotify. "Mood Machine" av @lizpelly.bsky.social fick ett välförtjänt genomslag som går bortom vad som fångas i plattformarnas årsstatistik. Boken kommer att förbli en viktig referenspunkt.

The 10 Best Albums of 2025 by @jennpelly.bsky.social time.com/7333797/best...

"Spotify Wrapped [is] another example of something personal and precious that is being automated away from us; a supposedly unbearable task of thinking and writing being “offloaded” in order to make life more frictionless." @lizpelly.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/music/2025/d...

I wrote about listening, thinking, reflection, memory & not “offloading” it all to sp*tify! www.theguardian.com/music/2025/d...

thanks to @nplusonemag.com and @robarcand.bsky.social for this excellent essay on my book, as well as Mood Machine by @lizpelly.bsky.social, a book I absolutely love

No contract, no coffee. We don’t believe in sitting on the sidelines. Join our Transition co-chair @linamkhan.bsky.social , First Deputy Mayor Dean Fuleihan & @sbworkersunited.org at the picket lines.

ep 8 of @criticallistening.bsky.social w/ amirtha kidambi is live now wherever you get your podcasts except sp*tify listen below and if you like the show maybe hit the 5 stars or text it to your group chat or something tysm podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/c...

*boosting for the weekend crowd*

yesterday @lizpelly.bsky.social joined us to kick off @newfeelingcoop.bsky.social's AGM and it was such an honour. i remember the excitement and validation everyone felt to see our co-op's name in the pages of Mood Machine when it came out, and last night's chat was equally affirming.

episode 8 of @criticallistening.bsky.social w/ Amirtha Kidambi of Elder Ones & Neti-Neti — on music in an era of mass dehumanization, using the show space as an organizing space, and a lot more. available now for subscribers & will be out everywhere else next week www.patreon.com/posts/episod...

grateful for this thoughtful & wide-ranging piece by Rob Arcand on the state of the financialized culture industry & what criticism of it is for, that puts Mood Machine in conversation with Andrew deWaard’s Derivative Media @nplusonemag.com www.nplusonemag.com/online-only/...

really enjoyed moderating this convo w/ Hayden Pedigo and S.G. Goodman for the Big Ears podcast. could def have much longer convos with both of them but was nice to chat about some of the places where their albums/backgrounds intersect podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/b...

From 2015 to 2023, Spotify spent a total of $8,720,000 on lobbyists. Source: "Mood Machine" by @lizpelly.bsky.social

It feels to me like letting a streaming platform summarize your book for readers using AI could be problematic newsroom.spotify.com/2025-11-13/a...

To celebrate year 5 and to MAKE GOVERNANCE FUN™️ we’re throwing a lil’ pre-AGM shindig ft. a convo between NF’s own Tabassum Siddiqui and @lizpelly.bsky.social They’ll be talkin’ the good stuff: collective ownership and labour in music. Come for the convo, stay for the governance!🤓

It’s AGM time! We’re hosting a virtual gathering and kicking it off with a special guest convo. New Feeling co-founder Tabassum Siddiqui will chat with author @lizpelly.bsky.social about collective ownership & the “new music labour movement" on Thursday November 20th, at 7pm ET.

i don’t ever wear headphones while walking around my neighborhood but I’m going to make an exception for listening to Mr. Cardamom on the way to the polls

tomorrow is your last day to knock some doors for zohran. i highly recommend signing up for an election day canvassing shift if you can, and especially if you have never done it before ! Zohranfornyc.com/gotv

people using ai to automate follow up emails to their requests for free labor need to be stopped

new episode of my podcast w/ @peretsky.bsky.social published today. linked below. discussing some v spooky subject matter.

EPISODE 7 a new headlines episode of critical listening is live. this time we are unpacking the major label deals w/ gen-ai companies and what they mean for music writ large. also, ek stepping down from his role as ceo at Spotify. hear it now by becoming a subscriber: www.patreon.com/c/CriticalLi...

New Yorkers of bluesky: tomorrrow/Weds night i am doing an audiofemme festival panel in Brooklyn that should be v interesting. Topic is “authenticity in the age of algorithms”(complicated) w/ Taja cheek (of L’Rain), Hannah Pruz (Gunk), Jill Mapes (hearing things) & Cherie Hu. 7pm sharp at sleepwalk

@lizpelly.bsky.social and Siri Undlin discuss “Mood Machine” during #ChippewaValleyBookFestival in #EauClaire today. Check out Liz’s book and her podcast, Critical Listening.

I have a few minutes before my first meeting of the day so let's do a mini NYC public libraries teach in. There are three NYC Public Library Systems 1. NYPL - www.nypl.org 2. Queens Public Library - queenslibrary.org 3. Brooklyn Public Library - www.bklynlibrary.org

guess i have to go to forest hills stadium for the first time (??)

kinda feel like the role of criticism is to provide a point of view other than popular crowd consensus which is what we get literally everywhere else

Hey if you join @criticallistening.bsky.social patreon you can hear me dishing about non-profit attitudes toward labor in Cambridge/Boston… And even if you don’t, you can now hear a convo btwn me @lizpelly.bsky.social and @peretsky.bsky.social about Why Sound Matters www.podbean.com/ew/pb-rd88j-...

My book Why Sound Matters is out this week! @lizpelly.bsky.social & @peretsky.bsky.social invited me to talk about it on their excellent podcast @criticallistening.bsky.social, available now wherever you get your podcasts, with one exception (you guessed it!) dadadrummer.substack.com/p/critical-l...

Liz and Max are my ideal interlocutors - delighted with how this conversation turned out! Also, they are so skilled at choosing bumper music that I even enjoyed the Galaxie bits @lizpelly.bsky.social @peretsky.bsky.social cc @yalebooks.bsky.social @yalepress.bsky.social @hillnadell.bsky.social

EPISODE 6: WHY SOUND MATTERS w/ DAMON KRUKOWSKI On the occasion of @dadadrummer.bsky.social‘s new book, we spoke about sound as material, music as labor, AI slop as a waste product of music’s financialization & much more. Hear it now by becoming a subscriber: www.patreon.com/c/CriticalLi...

some stuff coming up this week thurs oct 16 - durham NC - book talk at duke university 6:30pm sat oct 18 - nashville TN - in convo with ben Ratliff at southern festival of books 9am mon oct 20 - berkeley, ca - in convo with Jenny Toomey at uc Berkeley on creative labor in the streaming era 4:45pm

Join Jenny Toomey, @lizpelly.bsky.social & Peter DiCola for #TechPolicyWeek! 🎶🤖 How can artists keep agency & fair pay in a streaming-dominated world? Oct 20 | 4:15–6pm | 2400 Ridge Rd, 3rd Floor Board Room @BerkeleyISchool.bsky.social @GoldmanSchool.bsky.social

i think tracks made fully using gen AI should be clearly labeled in ways that actually serve the avg user - giving labels/distributors the ability to opt-in to submit metadata disclosing use of AI to be added to credits is a start but still far away from what’s needed musically.com/2025/09/25/s...

Excited to announce that @lizpelly.bsky.social will be reading from her book 'Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist' at UMAW's free show in D.C. this coming Monday Sept 29. RVSP now for your spot it's filling up fast: actionnetwork.org/events/julia...

episodes 1-5 of @criticallistening.bsky.social, the podcast i co-host with @peretsky.bsky.social, are avail everywhere but spotify. we’re starting work on eps 6-10 this week. if you would like to support this work pls subscribe here! www.patreon.com/criticallist... tysm