The Spotify Play, Jonas Leijonhufvud
The Spotify Play, Jonas Leijonhufvud
1 Rating(s)
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
Club: $9.99

The Spotify Play
How CEO and Founder Daniel Ek Beat Apple, Google, and Amazon in the Race for Audio Dominance

Author: Jonas Leijonhufvud, Sven Carlsson

Narrator: Chris Sorensen

Unabridged: 11 hr 52 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Ascent Audio

Published: 01/26/2021


Synopsis

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, 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.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Vovka on May 07, 2021

Cobbled together from many news reports and translated from its original publication in Swedish. Full of extraneous detail that fails to contribute to an insightful picture of any of the core protagonists. It’s interesting, and a good read if you’re in the music or entertainment or tech industries,......more

Goodreads review by Andrii on July 26, 2022

Як у більшості нон-фікшнів, ця книга теж має проблему того, що 300 сторінок спокійно можна було б скоротити до 100-150. Ще спочатку не дуже сподобався стиль, бо відчуття, що ти просто читаєш дуже велику статтю на вікіпедії, де в хронологічному порядку описується хто що зробив, куди пішов і з ким зус......more

Goodreads review by Felix on February 09, 2021

В начале книги лирическому герою - 22 года. Молодой и амбициозный швед Дэниель Эк мечтает создать сервис, который мог бы подарить людям всю музыку мира - бесплатно, но легально. В его венах - кипящая жажда успеха, но также и юношеский идеализм, ведь где-то рядом коллеги-соотечественники создают uTor......more

Goodreads review by Joris on March 21, 2020

Een jeugdherinnering: vrijdagmiddag, de top-40, de uitgeprinte lijst bij de hand, cassetterecorder in de aanslag. Klaar om de favoriete nummers vast te leggen, zodat die nog wekenlang teruggeluisterd kunnen worden. En tegenwoordig? Alles in de broekzak. Het is geen kleinigheid wat Spotify geflikt hee......more

Goodreads review by Christopher on April 28, 2022

This is a decent unofficial history of Spotify. I say decent for a few reasons. 1. There aren’t many great sources on the history of Spotify so it’s great to have something relatively thorough 2. Though it is thorough, the narrative is not compelling. The authors try to craft a story around CEO Danie......more