The Mafia_ Sabrina Carpenter_ _ Spotify Conspiracy

October 4, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

In the summer of 2024, hundreds of thousands of Spotify users experienced the same baffling disruption: they would be drifting off to a sleep playlist—ambient instrumentals, rain sounds, maybe a Dora the Explorer bedtime story—when suddenly Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” would kick in, with its loud opening chord and the lyric “Say you can’t sleep, baby, I know.” The song appeared on meditation playlists, heartbreak compilations, jogging mixes built around techno and house, and even a Hosier-based comforting rain morning collection. It wasn’t just “Espresso” either. Users reported similar intrusions from Tommy Richman’s “Million Dollar Baby” and Chappell Roan’s “Good Luck, Babe!” Shortly after, “Espresso” ranked number one on Spotify’s most streamed songs globally, and suspicion hardened into a theory: Spotify was artificially boosting certain tracks, and the practice looked a lot like something the music industry had supposedly outlawed decades ago—payola.

The old problem: pay-to-play on the radio

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What you'll learn

1 (01:30) **The Sabrina Carpenter Sleep Playlist Mystery** - Wendigoon sets up the core phenomenon: users finding Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” inserted into unrelated Spotify playlists (sleep, meditation, Dora the Explorer), ruining their listening experience.
2 (02:55) **The Reddit Evidence and the “Payola” Hypothesis** - Social media users, especially on Reddit’s r/popculturechat, documented the phenomenon and began to suspect it was intentional.
3 (05:40) **What is Payola? The 1950s Radio Bribery Scandal** - Wendigoon explains the historic practice of payola, where record labels paid radio DJs under the table to play their songs.
4 (07:55) **Dick Clark and the Mafia’s Early Music Industry Ties** - The investigation revealed that radio and TV personality Dick Clark held ownership stakes in 33 record labels, and mobsters like Al Capone owned clubs and controlled artists.
5 (11:08) **The 1980s “Network” and the John Gotti Connection** - A group of 30 independent promoters, known as “the network,” used cash, cocaine, and threats to influence radio play, eventually leading to a federal investigation involving mob boss John Gotti.
6 (13:14) **The Columbia Records Heroin Smuggling Scheme** - In 1973, a massive scheme was uncovered where Columbia Records was used to smuggle heroin from Canada to the U.S. via a fake trucking company.
7 (16:42) **Modern Payola and Spotify’s Legal Loophole** - Wendigoon explains that the FCC’s payola rules do not apply to Spotify because it is a purely digital platform, not broadcasting on public airwaves.

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Show Notes

What connects the Mafia, Sabrina Carpenter, and Spotify? This episode dives into a bizarre conspiracy theory surrounding the music industry, streaming platforms, and the forces that may—or may not—shape what listeners see and hear.

From suspicious streaming patterns and industry connections to online theories about Spotify and Sabrina Carpenter, we examine the claims, the coincidences, and the evidence behind the story.

Separating documented facts from speculation, this episode explores how conspiracy theories can emerge around major artists, powerful companies, and the modern music business.