Liz Pelly, author of Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist talks through the many practices at Spotify over the years that have impacted independent musicians-- from outsourcing stock music Spotify pays a lower royalty rate for and flooding Spotify's in-house playlists with that stock music, to paying artists a 30% lower royalty rate in exchange for promotion on Spotify.

Then, guitarist and independent musician Lance Allen talks about how he was able to pay off his mortgage and buy a car off Spotify royalties and how he’s continued to find success on the music streaming service.

Photo by Felix Walworth

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