Manufacturing Dissent Since 1996
New interviews throughout the week
Spotify ai playlist beta hed

For years, I referred to the names that would pop up on these playlists simply as “mystery viral artists.” Such artists often had millions of streams on Spotify and pride of place on the company’s own mood-themed playlists, which were compiled by a team of in-house curators. And they often had Spotify’s verified-artist badge. But they were clearly fake.

Liz Pelly joins This Is Hell! to discuss her Harper's cover article titled "The Ghosts in the Machine: Spotify's Plot Against Musicians," excerpted from her new book, Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist (One Signal Publishers). An all-new Moment of Truth with Jeff Dorchen follows the interview.

Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon.

 


Episode 863

Disaster Assurance

Aug 22 2015
Posted by Alexander Jerri

 

9:10AM - Journalist Gary Rivlin revisits the first days and bad decisions of the Katrina disaster.

Gary is author of the new book Katrina: After the Flood from Simon & Schuster.

 

10:05AM - Live from Kabul, Matthieu Aikins profiles the gangster-politicians of Karachi.

Matthieu's latest writing is The Gangs of Karachi for Harper's and Yemen's Hidden War for Rolling Stone.

 

10:35AM - The Radical Pessimist, Kevan Harris examines China's influence in South Africa.

Kevan just returned from South Africa and will be in-studio tomorrow.

 

11:05AM - Writer Alyssa Katz explores the US Chamber of Commerce's influence on American politics.

 

12:05PM - Psychology researcher Rael Dawtry points out the blind spots in the minds of wealthy people.

Rael is co-author of the study Why wealthier people think people are wealthier, and why it matters.

 

12:35PM - The Hopleaf's Michael Roper looks ahead to the inevitable craft brew bubble pop.

Michael will be in-studio with a couple beer choices and the chance to support a local public school by getting day drunk.

Posted by Alexander Jerri

Here's what Chuck is reading this week to prepare for Saturday's show:

Gary Rivlin - Katrina: After the Flood

Matthieu Aikins - The Gangs of Karachi [subscription required] / Yemen's Hidden War

Kevan Harris - The Spectre of Global China by Ching Kwan Lee

Alyssa Katz - The Influence Machine

Rael Dawtry - Why wealthier people think people are wealthier, and why it matters.

Aug 15 2015
Posted by Alexander Jerri

Chuck is on vacation in Michigan's poorest county and we're trying to switch podcast URLs. See you soon!

Aug 8 2015
Episode 860

Hystoria

Aug 1 2015
Episode 859

Dissentery

Jul 25 2015
Episode 858

NOXI

Jul 18 2015
Episode 857

Demolitionism

Jul 11 2015