Algorithms: Who Selects Music for Us

In the fourth chapter we bring the reader inside the black box of the mechanisms that characterize music platforms. This chapter answers the question of who chooses music for us. We start with a description of these companies’ workspaces, where the playlists we listen to every day are produced by algorithms and human curators, the new gatekeepers of today’s music industry. The gatekeeping process also involves mechanisms of datafication by algorithms and the role of music experts, who in turn rely on technological tools to create playlists targeting listeners. The music that reaches our ears is no longer just the result of our personal research or our friends’ suggestions but is increasingly selected automatically by algorithms developed by the platforms or recommended by music experts working for these digital companies. We devote special attention to the analysis of personalized playlists, a format that is gradually replacing listening to individual artists’ albums, thus bringing the streaming listening experience increasingly closer to that of radio. Drawing on interviews conducted with professionals from music platforms as well, the chapter explores in-depth the complex intertwining between the role of algorithms and human intervention in the creation of playlists.