Pay to get playlisted? The accusations against Spotify’s Discovery Mode

Discovery Mode gets artists noticed in exchange for a 30% royalty reduction. A new book suggests that the platform is squeezing musicians and misleading listenersIn November 2020, Spotify published an opaque headline on its company blog: “Amplifying Artist Input in Your Personalised Recommendations.” The post introduced a new program called Discovery Mode, which would ask artists to accept lower royalty rates in exchange for algorithmic promotion. It was pay-to-play, but Spotify intr