Inside Sleeve
This week has been one for the books. Several artists have shared their profiles publicly, and over 1,000 people have passed through the app—nearly 500 have signed up. Just like that, we’re live—no big, splashy launch, just organic growth fueled by artists and their fans.
It feels like we’ve spent the past year carefully stacking wood, making sure every piece was in place. Now, for the first time, we’re seeing smoke rise from the fire we lit. It’s burning on its own, taking on a life of its own. Our role isn’t to dump gasoline on it—we want to nurture it, creating the right conditions for it to grow naturally.
If you haven’t tried the app yet, we’d love for you to. Explore, poke around, and tell us what you think.
New Feature: Notes
Starting this week, we’ll introduce different features in Liner Notes. The first is Notes, a lightweight, real-time way for artists and fans to connect.
On Sleeve, artists can now share in two ways:
- Posts – Consider these an artist’s journal: longer, rich updates with behind-the-scenes stories, early access to tickets, exclusive content, and unreleased music. Every post triggers an email to fans, like a direct-to-fan newsletter.
- Notes – Quick, casual updates that don’t trigger notifications. Artists and fans can share thoughts, reactions, and shoutouts in real-time. Notes keep the conversation flowing without overwhelming your inbox.
Both features create space for deeper, more personal engagement—something social media increasingly fails to provide.
Tuesday Trends: Liz Pelly’s Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist
Lately, I’ve found myself repeatedly asking the same question: What’s wrong with how we listen to music today? Why does discovery feel less magical, and why does it seem more complicated to connect deeply with an artist’s world? Is it just that we’re busier, or have the platforms we rely on changed how we relate to music?
Spotify’s playlists seem like a gift—endless music tailored just for you. And yet, something feels off. The more I talk to people, the more I hear the same thing: It’s harder to feel connected to music now. The experience is frictionless but also weightless.
Enter Liz Pelly’s new book, Mood Machine. It puts words to a feeling I couldn’t quite articulate. Pelly has been writing about Spotify for years, dissecting how its algorithm-driven model doesn’t just shape what we listen to but how we listen. In her book, she explores how playlists flatten the listening experience, prioritizing engagement over artistry. As she writes:
“Spotify doesn’t just organize music; it reorganizes our relationship to music. It nudges us toward habits that benefit the platform more than they benefit artists—or listeners.”
This isn’t just an issue for musicians—it affects everyone. When music becomes background noise, when discovery is outsourced to algorithms, and when artists are forced to optimize their creativity for playlists instead of people, something essential is lost.
Mood Machine is a must-read for anyone who’s ever wondered why music doesn’t hit quite the same way it used to—and what we can do about it.
Have you felt this shift? Or is this just the new normal for how we listen? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Random Reflections: All It Took Was an Em Chord…
Sometimes, all it takes is a single moment to change everything. For Eddie Schwartz, that moment was an E minor chord. He recently shared on Sleeve:
“That single moment of discovery set off a lifelong journey—one that’s taken me through writing, playing, and producing for some of the greatest artists.”
Eddie—the songwriter behind hits like Pat Benatar’s “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” and The Doobie Brothers’ “The Doctor”—shared this reflection after a conversation we had about music, connection, and what it really means to build a sustainable career today.
In his words:
“Each of these collaborations has been a reminder of why I fell in love with music in the first place: the connection, the storytelling, and the magic that happens when a song resonates with someone.”
It’s a simple but powerful reminder that sometimes, all it takes is one chord, moment, or song to set everything in motion.
Stay tuned,
Anna
