Liz Pelly dives into her book of the year, Mood Machine

As we approach the end of 2025, it's clear that one of the year's most zeitgeist-defining books has been Liz Pelly's Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist.

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The New York-based writer has been on a promotional tour, speaking at festivals around the world, and one of her recent stops was at Soft Centre in Australia, where this Exchange was recorded live with writer, editor, DJ Audrey Pfister.

Pelly's background is in the DIY scene, college radio and independent alt weeklies, all of which ignited her interest in writing about music. Over the last few years, she has become an outspoken advocate for underground music, and an incisive critic of how the streaming economy has debilitated independent artistry. In this conversation, she unpacks some of her book's main conceits. For example, Spotify was originally designed around advertising models rather than music-first models, she says, which is why it rewards music that performs well at scale. She explains how that's created so much growing inequity in the music that performs well on the platform, and she goes on to draw fascinating parallels between what's happening in the streaming economy and what's happening in digital media.

Mood Machine ends on a somewhat hopeful note, and Pelly proposes some solutions: as custodians of the independent music scene, we have a responsibility to go to live shows, subscribe to emerging DIY media projects and give money directly to artists by buying their music and merch. Listen to the episode in full.

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01:35 - DIY music
08:28 - Changes to streaming models
11:50 - Mood playlists
15:35 - Alternatives to streaming
20:32 - How streaming affects artists
25:02 - Following the story