liz pelly
@lizpelly.bsky.social
9.8K followers 350 following 350 posts
writer in nyc, author of Mood Machine co-host of @criticallistening.bsky.social lizpelly.info/book
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Reposted by liz pelly
dadadrummer.bsky.social
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
criticallistening.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...
Get more from Critical Listening on Patreon
a podcast about music, technology & culture industry hell
www.patreon.com
Reposted by liz pelly
criticallistening.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...
Get more from Critical Listening on Patreon
a podcast about music, technology & culture industry hell
www.patreon.com
lizpelly.bsky.social
all are free & open to the public
lizpelly.bsky.social
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
lizpelly.bsky.social
“That’s very clear, although Pelly and other Spotify critics will undoubtedly be watching closely to check that Spotify doesn’t commission any AI music from third parties for these purposes either.” indeed musically dot com
lizpelly.bsky.social
not including “labels/distros that might eventually be owned by universal music group at some point” which may as well be the whole recorded music business at this point lol
lizpelly.bsky.social
mysteriously missing from list of labels/distributors opting in to share info about how AI is used in tracks: all the majors
lizpelly.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...
Spotify reveals its latest measures to handle AI music, spam and deepfakes
What are streaming services going to do about the explosion of fully AI-generated music being uploaded to their platforms?
musically.com
Reposted by liz pelly
joeyquits.bsky.social
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...
lizpelly.bsky.social
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
Get more from Critical Listening on Patreon
a podcast about music, technology & culture industry hell
www.patreon.com
Reposted by liz pelly
dadadrummer.bsky.social
The book exists. First copy hand delivered by my editor at Yale, who was on his way to see Pulp in Boston! Thank you super blurb crew Jarvis Julia Heba Jeff Stephin @lizpelly.bsky.social & @simonreynolds.bsky.social PREORDER LINK: yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300...
Reposted by liz pelly
hellgatenyc.com
Our own @adlan.bsky.social will be moderating a panel on DIY music and print media in the digital age between GUNK, Secret Riso Club, and @lizpelly.bsky.social. Tomorrow evening! Come on through!
lizpelly.bsky.social
i love this beautiful song. talking is freee
lilykngsbrg.bandcamp.com/track/talk-t...
lizpelly.bsky.social
also welcoming recs for what you'd do with a couple days off in melbourne. i heard there's bat watching
lizpelly.bsky.social
off to NZ & AUS soon for book events. here's all of them! if you know anyone there let them know?

aug 26- auckland @ whammy bar
aug 28- melbourne @ wheeler centre
aug 29- sydney @ soft centre festival
aug 31- brisbane @ ima
sept 1- perth @ 459 bar rosemount hotel
sept 2- perth @ blue room theatre
Reposted by liz pelly
lizpelly.bsky.social
also really love this Alice Does Computer Music record that came out today via free download, nina, soulseek, yt, lp/cs. one of my fav sets i've seen in ny this year
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXwc...
Bliss - alice does computer music (full album)
YouTube video by alice does computer music
www.youtube.com
lizpelly.bsky.social
been saying this a lot in interviews lately, but i really think convincing ppl to offload putting any thought into what they want to listen to via chatbot-style prompts is as corrosive to culture as the existence of the velvet sundown or whatever
(from spotify blog post)
screenshot from a spotify blog post titled "4 Spotify Tips to Create the Perfect Summer Soundtrack"

"Curate your ideal vibe
This year, your summer soundtrack is more personalized than ever thanks to recent product updates designed to bring you even closer to the music you love. With our latest enhancement to DJ, you can use your voice to request music and guide the vibe of your listening session in real time. Meanwhile, AI Playlist—now in beta in more than 50 markets—lets you generate custom playlists by entering a unique prompt into the chat.

For example, you might prompt AI Playlist to “create a reggaeton playlist for chillin’ by the pool,” or ask DJ to “play hot new releases for a day at the beach.” Whatever your mood, your ideal summer soundtrack is just a request away."
lizpelly.bsky.social
not hitting skip on things after 2 seconds is important
lizpelly.bsky.social
from phil elverum's newsletter
screenshot from phil elverum's newsletter:
"Today “GIANT OPENING MOUTH ON THE GROUND” by Phil Elverum & Arrington de Dionyso is released. Records are in the mail, bandcamp downloads are downloading, and some streaming places probably have it streaming. If you’re an “experimental music” nerd or a drone-poisoned metalhead, this is the record for you. If you’re a fan of regular ass songs, this is the record for you also, but in the way where you’ll be weirded out and grumpy but then maybe come around to it and begin a whole new chapter in your life. That’s the giant hole in the ground opening. You go in and emerge later different."
lizpelly.bsky.social
very excited to be participating in a bunch of book festivals this fall including the Chippewa Valley Book Festival in Eau Claire oct 25!
volumeone.org/articles/202...
Reposted by liz pelly