VIVA SOUNDS 2025 - ALGORITHM BLUES -When the machine does the choosing

When the machine does the choosing From Instagram to Spotify, the machine decides what we see, hear, and think is winning. But how fair is the game — and who really benefits? Do DSPs drive discovery, shape artist careers, and guide what labels and festivals buy into? Or are they all running on their own hidden agendas? In this talk, voices from inside and around the streaming world — from platforms to analysts, festivals to labels — dig into how they work with the machine, and how they value what gets shown to them. Is human taste still in charge, or are we all just trusting the machine to play fair? Sini Tiainen - Qoubos, FI Daniel Johansson - Musikindustrin, SE Stefan Gejsing - Roskilde Festival, DK Chair: Greg Kennelty, Metal Injection, US