The Playlist

It starts slow with almost to much comedic touch, so you have to be a little patient, but than it turns serious and darkish!

This is when you start to have Social Network vibes!

After the first episode we start to care for each character and root for them even when their interests start to take separate ways!

Every episode is focusing on a different character and has him/her as the narrator!(pretty clever idea)

A big plus is the Swedish language which makes you leave you F phone down and close Instagram, Twitter or what ever you are doing on the side and actually pay attention to the screen (yeah it's stupid but people do it all the time) Last but not least, it makes you think about the music, film etc industry and how quickly our 'crazy' world changes.

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.

The 6 episode mini series, based on the story of the rising of streaming platform Spotify, deals with contradictory and complex matters as value of music and musicians' labor, debates on the copyrigt, and people's right of free access to the streamed music.

The playlist, unlike the majority of other examples of the similar kind of screen productions, doesn't focus on aggrandising its main object; it is pretty far away from a praising story on Spotify.

Interestingly, one of the episodes contains a story set in 2024 and 2025. Swedish directors, via this episode, reveal their predictions on the near future of Spotify, music industry and related struggles for rights.

The playlist is an entertaining show but ultimately a fantasy based on truth.

First 5 episodes are great but 6th episode got an agenda and is biased.

That's the moment the record became scratched.

Take it for what it is, a fiction based on a true story.

That said, the soundtrack, casting, picture, the whole production is amazing.

Then again, let me think for myself, music is first and foremost supposed to be natural emotions expressed by art, not a must-succeed business for everyone.

Also, I thought I was watching a biography, not a spotify parody.

Could have been way better but sadly fell short.

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.