Inside the Playbook: Mike Biggane on Why Playlists Don’t Break Artists Anymore

Before playlists became leverage, before algorithms dictated discovery, before release strategy turned into guesswork, there was New Music Friday.

In this clip from The Manager’s Playbook, Mike Biggane, creator of New Music Friday and former Global Head of Curation at Spotify, breaks down how one early idea helped reshape music discovery and quietly changed the entire music industry.

Mike walks through Spotify’s formative years, when human curation and algorithmic programming were still in tension, and how acquisitions like The Echo Nest accelerated the shift toward personalization at scale. He explains how streaming platforms altered market dynamics, why traditional programming models broke, and how labels, A&R teams, and DSPs were forced to adapt in real time.

We also touch on how TikTok and user-generated content further fragmented listening behaviour, why release cycles lost their power, and how corporate pressures inside streaming platforms influenced music programming decisions.

This isn’t nostalgia. It’s a snapshot of how the modern music business was actually built and why it works the way it does today.

Simply put, a conversation like this doesn't come cheap.

Listen to the full episode here -

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1DDs8ss1IMx7YU5OV2QtXa?si=vO7b2aHjRomFvbCIxoEO5Q

Watch the Episodes On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@managersplaybook