The Playlist

To be honest, I was sceptical when I started watching. 'How can they make a 6 part series about Spotify interesting?' I thought. Then I ended up binge-watching the whole thing!

The story takes us on a journey following Spotify from the idea to the most popular music streaming site in the world, and it does this with an exciting format. Each episode dedicates itself to one of the people who were essential to the companys success and the compromises they have on the course of the project. While part fiction it still feels like large parts of the story is based on real events.

The acting was quite good overall except for some cringy parts and I was really impressed by Christian Hillborgs performance of the co-founder Martin Lorentzon, giving me real "Wolf of Wallstreet" vibes!

Being a Swedish production and without a Hollywood budget they had to get clever with the set design. There is an often recurring hallway which transports the characters in between sets which I really like, kind of like a fast travel sequence in a video game. Some of the scenes were re-used 2 or even 3 times in different episodes, each time following a different character. It did feel a bit a bit cheap sometimes but didn't stop each episode from feeling unique.

Finally, a show well worth a watch and is very self-aware. I was impressed how they were bold enough to even outright criticize Spotify in the last episode.

I like how this series takes multiple perspectives to show us the rise and controversy of Spotify, and what issues were plaguing the record industry at the time. It's certainly worth the watch, especially if you like stories about start-ups.

However, if you do watch it, you lose the quality of the acting if you watch the dubbed version.

I did find the overall story to be quite interesting as it evolved, from the founder's vision and relentless pursuit, to the major issues faced when trying to realise that vision, and the compromises and realities faced as time went by. And ultimately, the main losers in the whole story were the very ones Spotify claimed to be serving.

I had no idea about it and went in blind. This surprised me. The acting, the cinematography and the flow of the story is authentic and genuine. I do not know if this is completely true to the reality story, but it is very hooking for sure. Episode 2 was epic, the acting and the conflict between cultures, portrayed genuinely. "Heisenberg" looking guy won me over!

2 episodes in and I am getting 2 perspectives of the story with it moving forward, I can only assume it is going to get better. The only thing I hate about series/shows these days is they are either too 'teenage-ish' or too unrealistic.

I would definitely rate this a solid 9/10 for the 2 episodes I have seen. Let's see how it goes!

A nice take on the origins of streaming site Spotify. Tight script, wonderful execution, well balanced approach and perfect star cast. It doesn't exactly say how much is truth and how much is fictionalized to spice it up or bland it down, but give n take, this is a well done limited series in recent past.

The Vision, The Industry, The Law, The Coder, The Partner and finally The Artist... Ooh it just gets better than the previous. There is a lot that goes behind an entrepreneurship is not unknown but what definitely is unknown is the how's n when's n what's to most and it's easy to get swayed away but The Playlist keeps it tight and just.

After having watched magnificent slow burn Dahmer, this was a welcome spot-on refreshing watch.

Any story about the origin of a tech start-up is always fascinating with all the struggles and challenges it faces to become what it is. This is one such film.

The viewer gets to have a front seat as Spotify's story unfolds from the points of view of the major actors that made it the biggest thing in music streaming service: Daniel Ek, Martin Lorentzon, Petra Hansson, Andreas Ehn and Bobbi T.

Undoubtedly, it's an engaging story that introduces the viewer to key moments that pushed the start-up forward and upward. All the episodes are enlightening. And one particular episode is fun to watch. The idea of Petra Hansson in episode 3 flitting to different locations by opening different doors is brilliantly playful. Episode 4 is the heart of the series as it reveals how Andreas Ehn's creative coders solve the technical problem of buffering to come up with a unique network protocol. Andreas enthuses that the result "is the best designed, most user-friendly, most complete music player ever."

Episode 6 brings to the fore the consequent, if unintended, problems that Spotify's business model is wreaking upon the musicians themselves. This brings the company to a critical juncture. The essential question is will Daniel Ek compromise and address the plight of the average musician?

The talented cast succeeds in telling the story of this business giant. Kudos to Gizem Erdogan, Ulf Stenberg, Edvin Endre, and Janice Kavander for their solid performance. Bobbi T is a fictional character.)

There's just one scene though that's puzzling; this is the last scene. Check it out.

As is true in life, the multibillion-dollar company has to grapple with the need to change with the times. Only time will tell whether it will sustain its progressive trajectory.

This film is spot on.