Spotify’s biggest sin? Its algorithms have pushed artists to make joyless, toothless music | John Harris

Most musicians can only make money on the platform by writing songs inoffensive enough to get on to one of its vapid playlistsIn the hands of some of its most gifted practitioners, songwriting is a kind of emotional alchemy. For the past week, I have been returning to a perfect example: Every Time the Sun Comes Up by the US singer Sharon Van Etten, which was released in 2014. Its lyrics might be fractured and fragmented, but it is an almost perfect portrait of self-doubt and downward spirals: one of those songs that captures feelings so deep that they go way beyond words.I went back to that song as I read a superb new book that has both educated and profoundly depressed me. Mood Machine, by the New York-based journalist Liz Pelly, is about the music-streaming giant Spotify, and how it attracted its current 615 million subscribers, making a billionaire of its Swedish co-founder and CEO, Daniel Ek. But its most compelling story centres on what Spotify has done to people’s appreciation of songs and the people who make them – much of which is down to the platform’s ubiquitous playlists.John Harris is a Guardian columnist. His memoir Maybe I’m Amazed, about his autistic son James and how music became their shared language, is published on 27 March. For more information, visit maybeimamazed.substack.com Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2025-03-09 16:38:43 UTC ]

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Employees at Little, Brown are walking out to protest the publication of Woody Allen’s memoir.

Today, employees at the Little, Brown and Company imprint of the Hachette Book Group have organized a walkout in protest of the company’s announcement that it will be moving forward with the publication of Woody Allen’s memoir, Apropos of Nothing. Allen’s memoir was purchased by Hachette’s... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-03-05 21:02:55 UTC ]
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HQ signs Wilson's 'searing' memoir on autism and ageing

HQ has acquired the first adult memoir from children’s author Anna Wilson, billed as a “searing” account of autism and ageing. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-03-05 06:36:10 UTC ]
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Report: Simon & Schuster’s Date for John Bolton’s Book Is Now in May

The publication date moves to May for the controversial White House memoir of Donald Trump's former national security advisor John Bolton. The post Report: Simon & Schuster’s Date for John Bolton’s Book Is Now in May appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2020-03-04 15:00:09 UTC ]
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Seven Dials acquires volunteer's memoir of battling ISIS

Seven Dials has acquired the "explosive" story an ordinary man who went to Syria as an international volunteer to fight alongside the Kurdish YPG against ISIS. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-03-04 14:20:59 UTC ]
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Mirror Books to publish 'remarkable' World War Two memoir

Mirror Books will publish new memoir about the only living sisters to have signed the Official Secrets Act during the Second World War.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-03-04 12:36:25 UTC ]
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William Collins scoops ex-US Ambassador Darroch's memoir

William Collins has landed the “riveting and candid” memoir of Kim Darroch, Britain’s Ambassador to the US during Donald Trump’s White House reign. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-03-04 06:17:07 UTC ]
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Ronan Farrow condemns his publisher for plans to release Woody Allen memoir

Writer known for #MeToo investigations – whose sister says Allen abused her – suggests he can no longer work with HachetteRonan Farrow has distanced himself from the publisher of his latest book after the company announced plans to publish a memoir by his father, Woody Allen, saying the move... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2020-03-04 03:04:40 UTC ]
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Dylan Farrow calls Woody Allen's upcoming memoir 'deeply unsettling'

Dylan Farrow slammed Woody Allen's upcoming memoir, "Apropos of Nothing," calling it "deeply unsettling." She accused her adoptive father of sexual abuse in the 1990s. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2020-03-03 18:48:28 UTC ]
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HarperNonFiction wins six-way auction for ex-prison governor's memoir

HarperNonFiction has won a six-way auction for the "unflinching" memoir of Vanessa Frake, the former governor of one of Britain’s most notorious prisons. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-03-03 05:40:46 UTC ]
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Transworld pre-empts memoir by Jewish Dutch resistance fighter

Transworld has pre-empted a memoir by Jewish Dutch resistance fighter and Ravensbruck survivor Selma van der Perre.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-03-02 21:39:29 UTC ]
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Despite Me Too, Woody Allen's Memoir Is Coming In April

The director allegedly sexually abused his adoptive daughter Dylan Farrow when she was 7 years old. Continue reading at HuffPost

[ HuffPost | 2020-03-02 21:29:55 UTC ]
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Ronan Farrow and Woody Allen now share a publisher.

Here’s an odd and unpleasant piece of news: with today’s announcement that Woody Allen’s long-rumored memoir is no longer just a rumor, and will in fact be hitting shelves next month, Allen and his estranged son Ronan Farrow—who has dedicated much of his journalistic career to uncovering... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-03-02 20:44:05 UTC ]
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Long-rumored Allen memoir coming in April

 A memoir by Woody Allen, rumored for years and once thought unpublishable in the #MeToo era, is coming out next month. Grand Central Publishing, a division of Hachette Book Group, announced Monday... To view the full story, click the title link. Continue reading at Crains New York

[ Crains New York | 2020-03-02 19:41:59 UTC ]
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This week's five best book events are all about the best coast

This week's book events are fully locavore: Lynell George's essays on the city's rich cultural tapestry; Erin Khar's memoir of teen addiction in the mid-1980s; Thomas Pynchon's Cali counterculture noir; a debut novel from Los Angeles Review of Books founder Tom Lutz; and a visit from Pod Save... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2020-02-28 19:52:47 UTC ]
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How Do You Translate Intergenerational Trauma?

E.J. Koh’s memoir The Magical Language of Others floats stunningly through the abandonment she experienced as a teenager. When she was fifteen, her parents returned home to South Korea for a more lucrative job opportunity, leaving her behind in the United States with her college-going brother. ... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2020-02-28 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Constable to publish 'Fun House' host Pat Sharp's memoir

Constable is publishing a memoir by radio and television presenter Pat Sharp, best known for hosting ITV children’s game show "Fun House". Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-02-27 13:41:07 UTC ]
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Margery Kempe Had 14 Children and She Still Invented the Memoir

Not many people know this, but the first memoir in the English language was probably written by a mom who cried a lot.  The Book of Margery Kempe is mostly the kind of text you read if you’re a medievalist, or maybe an English major at a women’s college, although I was an English major […] The... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2020-02-27 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Lit Hub Daily: February 27, 2020

“I try to hide how unreal those two deaths are to me. No, not unreal. It’s just I can’t make them matter.” Elizabeth Tallent on death, silence and the intimacies of sadness. | Lit Hub Memoir Pod Save America’s Dan Pfeiffer lays out a plan for the future of democracy. | Lit Hub Politics “It’s […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-02-27 11:30:28 UTC ]
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Headline picks up The Yorkshire Forager

Headline has picked up The Yorkshire Forager, a “wonderfully wild” memoir and field guide by forager Alysia Vasey. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-02-27 10:30:25 UTC ]
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Religion Book Deals: February 26, 2020

Zondervan nabbed a new book by Christian hip-hop artist Lecrae; Jordan Lee Dooley brings two books to WaterBrook, a memoir on autism lands at Brazos, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-02-26 05:00:00 UTC ]
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