Acknowledgments

This book could not have been written without the help of dozens of people who have supported us over the past two years.

First and foremost we need to thank our many sources, speaking both on the record and anonymously. Many of you have gone against Spotify’s corporate culture of secrecy, and taken personal risks, in order to help us get closer to the true story.

Thanks also to the many journalists—both Swedish and international—who have covered Spotify throughout the years. Many of you are included in the list of references and sources. We could not have put this together without your diligent work. 

Thanks to our first publisher, Albert “Abbe” Bonnier of Albert Bonniers Förlag in Stockholm, who took a chance on us when this book was only an idea. Thanks also to the team at Bonnier Rights for helping us along the way and selling the book successfully to more than a dozen countries, including the United States.

The Spotify Play is the third edition of this book, and the first in English. It’s been updated and improved with the help of several new sources. Kudos to them. Although the translation is our own, we owe a great degree of gratitude to our editor Keith Wallman at Diversion Books, and to our copyeditor Elisabeth Evan.

We need to thank our loved ones for putting up with us, and our bosses at Dagens industri and Swedish Public Radio for allowing us to pursue this project.

Lastly, we’d like to thank Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon for starting the company and giving us such a great story to cover.