Sister Inquiry

In this engaging interview, Jenn Pelly chats with her twin sister, Liz Pelly, about their strong lifelong connections to music, its social and artistic value, the state of music media and music technology, and a world beyond algorithms in which we are more active participants in the music and art we enjoy—versus passive consumers of streaming services. It’s an inspiring conversation centered around Liz’s book on the rise of Spotify, Mood Machine. At the end, they discuss library streaming as a way to encourage more intentional listening and shake up the streaming status quo.

I think I’m a testament to how one conversation with one person can change the trajectory of your life. I have a memory from seventh grade, where at the lunch table our friend Lauren said, “Oh, you like music? Do you have Napster on your computer? You should go home and download music by The Ataris and Bright Eyes.” And I went home and did that. Lauren ended up bringing us to a show in someone’s garage not long after, which, as a 12-year-old, completely terrified me.

I started writing about library streaming in 2021, and it’s something I remain really excited about. After that Broadcast piece came out, I heard so many stories from other people in music about how important going to get a stack of CDs at the public library was to them as a teenager. It’s one of the reasons I wanted to end the book with the public library as a possible alternative or “solution” for digital music access.