3 good reasons to watch The Playlist

Last week I saw The Playlist, the mini-series dedicated to the history of Spotify produced by Netflix.

The series tells the company’s story, from its birth as a start-up to its success in recent years.

Compared to “The Social Network”, the authors have less fictionalized the facts trying to be as close as possible to what happened.

Rasmus Andersson - the designer of Spotify’s first interface - wrote some tweets about the series defining it “not bad”.

For those who, like me, deal with digital products, the series is interesting for 3 good reasons:

1. Success is the child of compromise

As good as the idea is, behind its success there is (often) the ability to compromise with it. Patience if this means having to give up the original vision of the product. We must be willing to sacrifice even what we consider untouchable.

2. The prototype is the product

When Daniel Ek introduces the product to music majors, he presents a real product, not a prototype or a demo. This shows how fundamental the integration between planning and development is. You need to be able to touch the product in its entirety with your hand, without any limitations.

3. What matters are relationships (and money)

Okay, the idea is good and the historical context is as well. But all this is not enough. The story of Spotify teaches, once again, how crucial networking is and getting to know the right people (with money) at the right time.