Spotify's doppelgänger problem Highlight

Perfect fit content, or PFC, is Spotify’s term for what is essentially stock music. As described in Liz Pelly’s recent book Mood Machine — which was excerpted at length in Harper’s — PFC is Spotify’s effort to fill up playlists that are typically listened to as background music with inexpensive alternatives to major-label releases. The company can make deals with stock music companies in which it does not pay musicians royalties, letting it stream tracks at a much lower price than it pays the major labels.