Playlisting favorites: Measuring platform bias in the music industry

•Music streaming platforms can affect artists’ success through playlist ranking decisions.•Dominant platforms may exercise their power in a biased fashion.•We test for bias in Spotify’s New Music playlist rankings using outcome-based tests.•We find that Spotify’s New Music rankings favor indie-label music and music by women.•Despite challenges faced by women and indie artists, Spotify’s New Music curation appears to favor them.