Late reply, but I suppose you’re correct; I think the option to choose what to install, the lack of pre-created desktop stuff (“home/$username/Videos” for example) and the requirement that you handle software that isn’t in the base install all make a Slackware installation less bloated than most. Maybe not at install time, but over the life of the install you end up with less garbage IMHO.
Jellyfin + Finamp has been pretty good for me.