The Facebook foundation got the movie treatment with Aaron Sorkin’s “The Social Network.” The story of how Snapchat came about will be a flagship series on the upcoming streaming service, Quibi. Today, Spotify is the latest startup to tell its story on screen, this time as a new Netflix show.
Netflix says it is developing a scripted series inspired by the book “Spotify Untold” by trade reports from Swedes Dagens Industri, Sven Carlsson and Jonas Leijonhufvud. The story will focus on the founding of Spotify and how it changed the way people listen to music in the last decade.
“The founding story of Spotify is a great example of how a local story can have a global impact,” said Tesha Crawford, director of North European International Originals at Netflix. “We are really excited to bring this success story to life and look forward to continuing our great collaboration with Director Per-Olav Sørensen and the Yellow Bird UK team.”
The Banijay Group’s company, Yellow Bird UK, is also the production company behind the upcoming Netflix crime series “Young Wallander.” Yellow Bird UK will produce this new and as yet untitled Spotify show and Per-Olav Sørensen will direct. Bern Levin (“Young Wallander,” “Hidden” and “The Girl in the Spider’s Web”) will serve as executive producer.
The series will focus on Swedish tech entrepreneur Daniel Ek and his partner Martin Lorentzon, who created the free and legal music service at a time when music piracy was at its peak. Netflix describes the show as one about “how tough convictions, relentless will, access, and big dreams can help young players challenge the status quo.”
Netflix says the series will be available in English and Swedish.
“I am delighted to make this series timely and entertaining for Netflix. The story of how a small band of experts from the Swedish tech industry transformed music, how we listen to it and how it is made, is truly a story for our time. it’s about a story about how our lives have changed in the last decade, it’s about the battle for cultural and financial influence in a globalized and digitized world, “says Berna Levin, executive producer of Yellow Bird.
As the Netflix announcement also points out, telling the story of a tech startup can be difficult because things move and change quickly. Spotify, after all, is still around and growing. It is likely that by the time the show airs, it will have undergone many more transformations.
“I’m excited to bring the Swedish-based Spotify story to life on screen. It’s an ongoing fairy tale in modern history about how Swedish boy geniuses changed the music industry forever. The story is really exciting and challenging, ”added Per-Olav Sørensen. “Challenging because the story of Spotify is not over yet – it is still running at high speed and will likely change as we work on the project.”
Netflix did not share a release date for the series.
