Ever wonder how Spotify went from Swedish startup to global sensation?
A new book chronicling the company’s meteoric rise is set to be adapted into a TV drama.
Tell-all novel “Spotify Untold” (“Spotify Inifrån”) has been optioned by Yellow Bird UK for a limited scripted series examining “how a secretive start-up wooed record companies, shook the music industry to its core, and conquered Wall Street.”
The book, dubbed a “modern-day David-versus-Goliath,” is a behind-the-scenes exposé of how founder Daniel Ek and financial partner Martin Lorentzon bet everything on an idea.
“A tale of tech entrepreneurship, this is a journey beset with egos, obstacles, and betrayal,” according to a Yellow Bird press release.
Think The Social Network, but with more music and on the small screen.
“The Spotify story is a drama at the highest levels of tech, music, and finance. It’s perfect for the screen” book co-author Sven Carlsson said, praising Yellow Bird’s “strong track record in making Nordic stories come alive on the international scene.”
Founded in 2003, the firm’s resume includes The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Millennium Trilogy, and Wallander.
And, soon, “Spotify Untold.”
Investigative journalists Sven Carlsson and Jonas Leijonhufvud deliver a behind-the-scenes exposé of Spotify’s rise (via “Spotify Untold”)
Central to the upcoming series is Spotify’s turbulent journey into the U.S. market, described as a “chess match between the new kids and the old guard”: Steve Jobs, Jimmy Iovine, and Beats Music against Ek and Sean Parker.
“Set in the dynamic arena of the music industry, this is the true story of youth challenging the establishment,” film producer Berna Levin explained. “With reality trumping fiction at every turn, we will explore one of the greatest and most surprising technological advancements of our time.”
The series, expected to feature major players in the music and tech industries, will likely need to cast yet another version of real-life characters Steve Jobs (previously portrayed by Ashton Kutcher and Michael Fassbender), Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg), and Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake).
And, if the book’s website is anything to go by, you can also expect fictionalized forms of Ek, Jay-Z, Pony Ma Huateng, and Jimmy Iovine.
“The rise of Spotify is one of the greatest stories to come out of Sweden in the past 10 years,” co-author Jonas Leijonhufvud said in a statement. “It’s a saga of a young founder who came out of nowhere and beat Apple at their own game.”
The show will be developed and produced by Yellow Bird UK, Levin, and Luke Franklin. Carlsson and Leijonhufvud will consult on the project.
It’s unclear whether the series will keep its source material’s title.
More on Geek.com:
- Disney Soundtracks Now Live in Special Spotify Hub
- Spotify Simplifies Podcast, Music Navigation for Subscribers
- Spotify Mixes Music, News to Rev Up Your Commute
