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Liz Pelly on Muck Rack

Liz Pelly

New York
As seen in: THE MEDIA, The Baffler, Apple Podcasts, The New York Times, Yahoo Entertainment, Financial Times, The Guardian, Yahoo Canada, Bandcamp Daily, NPR, JSTOR Daily, Rolling Stone and
journalist, critic, nyu adjunct // "Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist" is out January 7, 2025 (One Signal Publishers)

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Liz Pelly’s Biography

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Liz Pelly is a writer and editor living in Brooklyn, NY, covering music, culture, and the arts. Her byline has appeared at The Baffler, The Guardian, Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, The Village Voice, Nylon, Time Out New York, The Intercept, In These Times, Spin, Rookie, The Boston Phoenix, Dazed, Stereogum, and NME. Liz has worked on staff at The Boston Phoenix, Stereogum, and Impose. She holds a bachelor's degree in Magazine Journalism from Boston University's College of Communication. She began he…

Liz Pelly’s Journalist Portfolio

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The Problem with Muzak | Liz Pelly

The Problem with Muzak | Liz Pelly

Spotify's bid to remodel an industry: on the rise of "chill" playlists, the "automation of selling out", impl…

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Discover Weakly | Liz Pelly

Discover Weakly | Liz Pelly

Spotify's most popular playlists are staggeringly male-dominated and algorithmic discovery exacerbates that b…

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The Secret Lives of Playlists

The Secret Lives of Playlists

Not all Spotify playlists are created equally. To begin understanding this, look at them closely. Literally.

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Cut the Music | Liz Pelly

Cut the Music | Liz Pelly

Inside M.A.R.C.H.—the NYPD's secret, venue-closing task force

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Excerpt: An oral history of Alabama feminist punk band P.S. Eliot

Excerpt: An oral history of Alabama feminist punk band P.S. Eliot

An excerpt published in advance of the entire text, released as a zine in 2016 by Don Giovanni Records.

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How an Art Exhibit on Surveillance Says Too Little by Showing Too Much

How an Art Exhibit on Surveillance Says Too Little by Showing Too Much

What exactly is the point of curating an art show centered around themes of privacy and surveillance? "Public…

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Articles

Has taste in music been hijacked?

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By Liz Pelly
| Financial Times Verified
In March, two of the co-founders of digital marketing agency Chaotic Good sat down for a live podcast recording with the music trade...
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‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’: The Making of a Classic Soundtrack

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By Liz Pelly
| Yahoo Entertainment Verified
Generate Key Takeaways This story was originally published on December 9, 2015 The legend goes like this: In 1963, producer Lee Mendelson made a documentary about Peanuts cartoonist Charles M. Schulz, for which he needed music. One night, Mendelson was driving over the Golden Gate Bridge, tuned into a San Francisco jazz station. “Cast Your Fate to the Wind” came on the air, a drifting cut where melodies appear and then disappear, and bouncing elation is matched by tiny moments of despair.
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This Spotify Wrapped season, don’t outsource your love of music to AI

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By Liz Pelly
| Inkl
‘These lists are essentially meme-like advertising campaigns for companies that notoriously pay musicians penny fractions’ … a Spotify Wrapped billboard. Photograph: Spotify I like year-end list season. I like an opportunity to remember and reflect on the records that stuck with me over the course of a year – especially when there is a chance to recommend something that others may have overlooked.
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Interview

Did you work for your high school newspaper? If so, what did you do there?

21-source investigative report on changes to music department policy co-authored with my sister, Jenn Pelly