The pivot of the Spotify guy from consumer-facing music platform to one-way drones and AI targeting tools is almost too tidy.

next up in my return to occasional all-ages show booking:: so excited to be presenting an nyc album release show for Katie Alice Greer at the living gallery on Saturday June 6! tix available here: pools.events/event/0eMynN...

the gen Xers are fighting about poptimism and rockism again when we really need to be fighting about📢unchecked corporate consolidation in the music biz 📢 cmon guys

I'll be presenting at this next week! Really looking forward to all of the papers --->

pvd pop fest confirmed this as song of the spring🌼 touchgirlappleblossom.bandcamp.com/track/the-sp...

I am a huge fan of this band for lots of reasons & their commitment to financial transparency is one of them--> loscampesinos.substack.com/p/los-camp-p...

I've been booking diy shows on and off for 15+ years and I think last night was the first time I brought a boombox and a stack of cassettes for the house music between bands. highly rec

FT asked me to weigh in on the debates around paid UGC campaigns, so I tried to emphasize what I think is important, which is calling out unlabeled advertising in its many forms -- and that the agencies themselves might be using these narratives to overhype their services www.ft.com/content/9c26...

Everyone being okay with slop is the scariest part. "Several tens of thousands of AI-generated tracks are now delivered to streaming services every day, and a survey last year, commissioned by music platform Deezer, showed that 97 per cent of listeners cannot identify them."

Let me emphasize Liz's point here: Who benefits from you believing that these campaigns work? Agencies are just sales people, selling marketing services. They don't really care if they work, but they care if clients believe they do.

FT asked me to weigh in on the debates around paid UGC campaigns, so I tried to emphasize what I think is important, which is calling out unlabeled advertising in its many forms -- and that the agencies themselves might be using these narratives to overhype their services www.ft.com/content/9c26...

platforms came into being to convert sociality into consumerism, and a primary legacy of the social media era is that we are more prone to think that consumerism (fandoms) is the only way to be social

I don't remember who I voted for in the nyt poll but I know I voted for Joanna newsom, the greatest living American songwriter

tomorrow! very excited to be in conversation with my favorite food writer @aliciadkennedy.bsky.social for her salon series. it's happening online at 11am and you can join us >>> alicia-kennedy.com/salon/p/the-...

sometimes I like to open the spreadsheet of every show that happened at silent barn to see what was goin on 10 years ago. April 26 2016 we were hosting something called "Conference of The Shred" (mems guerilla toss, PC worship) & a band called Dear Leader (mems celestial shore, JOBS). good stuff!

great piece by my sister on p4k today. I especially enjoyed the lore from morby's early days in NYC and the stories from her trip to Kansas City. I know I am biased but I always think Jenn's are masterclass profiles - pitchfork.com/features/lif...

love the new Anna altman record highly rec icymi: annaaltman.bandcamp.com/album/annato...

What does the future of music sound like? 🎶 Come find out at our free in-person event on May 4 at 6:30 PM where authors Liz Pelly & David Hajdu will discuss the rise of Spotify and the impact of AI. Moderated by author @dancharnas.bsky.social Get your FREE ticket here: tinyurl.com/Machines-and...

Cannot wait to read this

it's here: Critical Listening ep 15 w/ @wendyeisenberg.bsky.social! we have a looong chat with Wendy about their new album, teaching practice & more, plus debut a new series called "Listening Habits" where we talk to musickers about how they actually listen to music www.patreon.com/posts/episod...

can someone tell Spotify's head of audiobooks (no background in books, has worked in product there for 15 years) that a book being carried around in a bag is not actually being read? reading starts once you sit down, open the book & direct your attention to the page w/o distractions. hope this helps

I read the geese piece in wired & what I have to contribute is that undisclosed advertising campaigns, in addition to probably being literally illegal (like FMC points out in my LRT), are extremely harmful to media integrity. this includes not just paid UGC campaigns but unlabeled spon-con (1/2)

there is def something to be said for how deceptive fake ugc campaigns are (that is "fake user generated content campaigns" for those who don't spend their days studying music biz hell) & they seem to be increasingly common

Bernie & Naomi Klein & Ro Khanna talking about AI live from dc right now, worth a listen~ www.youtube.com/live/xGJ2DkF...

none of the box for buddy box for star covers are as good as the originals but I guess that's kind of the point lol

details are tk but im helping put together a show in nyc on sunday may 3 for try the pie & if you are around maybe just plan to be there :) this record was so good trythepie.bandcamp.com/album/a-wide...

wild song on an album full of them~ wendyeisenberg.bandcamp.com/track/old-my...

new Hannah Lew record out today is great hannahlew.bandcamp.com/album/hannah...

I am very excited to be in conversation with @jefftobias.bsky.social on April 22 in a location I always thought we'd one day discuss music streaming in a public interest technology context: the World Trade Center Oculus www.eventbrite.com/e/sonic-spac...

I'll be in DC this Saturday to speak on a panel at the Georgetown Music Sustainability Forum with @lizpelly.bsky.social and @peretsky.bsky.social

prophetic www.youtube.com/watch?v=abu2...

You’ll learn more about the state of Spotify payments from this than from any of their own press releases or the music business publications that repeat them

and for episode 14 we're back with more headlines! digging into UMG CEO Lucian Grainge's recent appearance at NVIDIA's "Super Bowl of AI" conference plus the 2026 "Loud and Clear" report, Spotify's annual crisis PR campaign disguised as royalty "transparency" effort>> www.patreon.com/posts/episod...

if you want to own a copy of the first article I wrote about Spotify for the baffler (2017) it’s issue 37 (“power corruption and lies”) and right now it costs four dollars and 75 cents ($4.75)

I despise when tech execs describe resistance to a new tech product or paradigm as "being scared" i.e. "I understand why musicians are scared but.." it's so condescending. being politically against something or exercising your right to opt out can come from many places other than "being scared"

building on some thoughts in prev posts. I have noticed for years in phoned-in music journalism this tendency to say that if someone is taking on topical songwriting or anything even vaguely addressing politics/society that there must be a certain blistering/frenetic delivery to match its "urgency"

yesterday I was thinking about why so many record reviews today feel like the writer just read the lyric sheet, w/o actually listening. so I love the concept of this new hearing things column, using accessible music theory to help better understand classic songs: www.hearingthings.co/townes-van-z...

why are we still dealing w this style of record review that reads like the critic just read the lyric sheet and album bio, and didn't even listen to the album

thanks to GUNK for running my full interview with @eonforassembly.bsky.social and @cct4nyc.bsky.social in their newsletter! topics discussed include the need for commercial rent stabilization, universal healthcare as arts policy, why we need to tax the rich and fund NYC libraries & more

thanks to GUNK for running my full interview with @eonforassembly.bsky.social and @cct4nyc.bsky.social in their newsletter! topics discussed include the need for commercial rent stabilization, universal healthcare as arts policy, why we need to tax the rich and fund NYC libraries & more

rich popular girl villain mode jazz in the background chillin after work www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVgb...

Feb. headlines episode out now! We read the transcript of Spotify's 2025 q4 earnings call so you don't have to, and dove into what it revealed about the company's current AI aspirations. And we spoke w/ @jillmapes.bsky.social about her essay on the Wasserman exodus podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/c...

NYC bluesky scrollers: please save the date MARCH 11 & consider coming out to a show I helped book at The Broadway! it's a fundraiser for state assembly candidates @eonforassembly.bsky.social & @cct4nyc.bsky.social who are running to tax the rich, defend & expand rent control & get ICE out of NYC.

so many incredible moments on this but the singer of still house plants doing Don't Let Our Youth Go To Waste w/ damon and Naomi is 😭 gina birch singing Listen The Snow is Falling also backed by stereolab and alabaster deplume😭 damonandnaomi.bandcamp.com/album/whats-...

NYC bluesky scrollers: please save the date MARCH 11 & consider coming out to a show I helped book at The Broadway! it's a fundraiser for state assembly candidates @eonforassembly.bsky.social & @cct4nyc.bsky.social who are running to tax the rich, defend & expand rent control & get ICE out of NYC.

I have been alerted that Mood Machine will be on the front page of en.wikipedia.org under "did you know" until 7pm est... excitement

Great info in this episode of @criticallistening.bsky.social about Spotify’s plans for use of generative AI

real question.. how am I supposed to choose what to see at big ears when everything happening at the same time all looks equally incredible

feb headlines ep of @criticallistening.bsky.social is live! we discuss spotify's recent update to shareholders (aka I read the spotify q4 earnings call transcript so you don't have to) & also chat with @jillmapes.bsky.social about her essay on the wasserman exodus-- www.patreon.com/posts/episod...