Episode · Freakonomics Radio · 2019-04-11
Books mentioned on 374. How Spotify Saved the Music Industry (But Not Necessarily Musicians)
Daniel Ek, a 23-year-old Swede who grew up on pirated music, made the record labels an offer they couldn’t refuse: a legal platform to stream all the world’s music. Spotify reversed the labels’ fortunes, made Ek rich, and thrilled millions of music fans.
Stephen Dubner recommended Spotify Teardown by Maria Eriksson and others, and discussed Long Tail by Chris Anderson.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Long Tail
Long Tail by Chris Anderson is an influential business and economic text exploring how the internet and digital distribution channels allow companies to thrive by selling large quantities of niche items in low volumes rather than just a few blockbuster hits.
Discussed“In 2006, the journalist Chris Anderson published an influential book called The Long Tail, Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More. Daniel Eck, in a 2010 interview, called The Long Tail his favorite book.”
Where to get it
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Spotify Teardown
Spotify Teardown by Maria Eriksson, Rasmus Fleischer, Anna Johansson, Pelle Snickars, and Patrick Vonderau is an investigative study that examines the inner workings and broader cultural impact of the popular music streaming platform.
Recommended“If you want to learn more about Spotify including how a team of Swedish social scientists tried to reverse engineer it to see how the platform really works check out a new book called Spotify Teardown Inside the Black Box of Streaming Music”
Where to get it
