Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist

by Liz Pelly

Meanwhile, actual independent labels were mystified by what was happening on the so-called “indie” playlists. As the founder of one indie rock imprint explained to me in 2022, word had started to spread among independent labels and distributors that things were changing at Spotify. “Their indie playlists have turned into pop playlists,” the label founder told me in 2022. “Most indie labels are aware of this and have been really upset about it,” he continued. “Our distributor is constantly trying to talk to Spotify about it. They’ve pushed a lot of what we would think of as indie to the rock category, which has a much smaller listenership. So even when we do get playlisted now, it doesn’t really translate into very many streams, or much revenue. Lorde and Taylor Swift and all of these pop stars are on the indie playlists constantly now.” The independent label owner said it was becoming impossible for their artists to get onto playlists like “All New Indie.” “We’ve been doing this long enough,” they told me. “All of our guitar bands used to be on those playlists. And now it’s just this watered down pop sound that has taken over. We no longer know what playlists we’re aiming for. They become more and more abstract as time goes on, and they all have a sound that is very similar.”