The Spotify Play - by Sven Carlsson & Jonas Leijonhufvud (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

The American edition of the revelatory Swedish book Spotify Untold, the basis of the new Netflix Original series The Playlist, out now!

"Two excellent Swedish journalists recount the historic rise of the company that changed modern music not just as a riveting business tale, but as a lesson in tech geopolitics. Spotify's Daniel Ek shows why Silicon Valley does not always win."-David Kirkpatrick, New York Times bestselling author of The Facebook Effect

Steve Jobs tried to stop this moment from ever happening. Google and Microsoft made bids to preempt it. The music industry blocked it time and again. Yet, on a summer's eve in 2011, the whiz kid CEO of a Swedish start-up celebrated his company's US launch.

In the midst of the Apple-Android tech war and a music label crusade against piracy and illegal downloading, Spotify redrew the battle lines, sent shockwaves through Silicon Valley, and got the hardline executives at Universal, Sony, and Warner to sign with its "free-mium" platform.

In The Spotify Play, now adapted into an upcoming Netflix Original series, Swedish investigative tech journalists Sven Carlsson and Jonas Leijonhufvud, who covered the company from its inception, draw upon hundreds of interviews, previously untapped sources, and in-depth reporting on figures like Mark Zuckerberg, Sean Parker, Steve Jobs, Taylor Swift, Jay-Z, Pony Ma Huateng, and Jimmy Iovine. They have captured the riveting David vs. Goliath story of a disruptive innovator who played the industry giants in a quest to revolutionize the consumption of sound, building today's largest online source of audio, with more than 50 million songs, one million-plus podcasts, and over 300 million users.

Review Quotes

"The Spotify Play delivers an outsider-to-kingmaker narrative that should be read by every gun-shy entrepreneur too spooked by Silicon Valley's giants to go head-to-head with them. . . . Carlsson and Leijonhufvud have tracked Mr. Ek's career since the early days, and their expertise shows. The Spotify Play is . . . a revealing character study of an inventor who proved that the willingness to fight for an idea can indeed pay off-and that you don't have to be a pirate to have fun doing it."-Wall Street Journal

"Why has Sweden generated so much digital music innovation? How did it gestate Spotify, which to this day stands tall against almighty Apple? Two excellent Swedish journalists recount the historic rise of the company that changed modern music not just as a riveting business tale, but as a lesson in tech geopolitics. Spotify's wily and determined Daniel Ek shows why Silicon Valley does not always win."-David Kirkpatrick, author of The Facebook Effect: The Inside Story of the Company That Is Connecting the World

"[The Spotify Play] reads like a movie script. This book perfectly captures the story of how tech changed music-and of the people who made it happen."-Daniel Goldberg, co-author of Minecraft: The Unlikely Tale of Markus 'Notch' Persson and the Game that Changed Everything

"A fast-paced tale of a Swedish startup overcoming technical and financial obstacles and larger competitors, The Spotify Play will fascinate anyone who streams music or is interested in the music industry, Silicon Valley, or the venture capital business."-John A. Riggs, author of High Tension: FDR's Battle to Power America

"Finally, a deep and insightful dive into the music industry's most disruptive new player and the characters behind the Swedish giant's global audio crusade."-Shirley Halperin, Executive Editor, Music, Variety

"An impressive, in-depth look into one of the most successful tech-companies in Europe. The Spotify Play is an initiated account, even for someone with an inside perspective."-Pär-Jörgen Pärson, Spotify's first investor and partner at Northzone

"A fresh, inside take on the Swedish success story that disrupted piracy, transformed the music industry and made streaming the new norm."-Per Sundin, president of Universal Music Nordic Region, and early Spotify supporter

"Two Swedish business reporters' tale of the tenacious rise of the streaming-music giant that has fended off assaults from Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, and Taylor Swift. Carlsson and Leijonhufvud are seasoned business reporters who've garnered informative scoops about the company . . . An informative report from the streaming wars."-Kirkus Reviews