STREAMING platform Spotify has revealed a new feature for its audiobook service. During an event held at its New York offices on Tuesday afternoon, the company introduced an updated business model where it will now offer its Premium subscribers access to a selection of its audiobook catalogue, totaling 150,000 titles, with 15 hours of listening per month, at no extra cost.
This service, which started on Oct 4, is set to debut initially in the UK and Australia and is scheduled to launch in the US later this year. The list will be expanded with additional markets in the near future.
“Audiobooks today have one big dominant player. And just like in music and podcasting, we believe that many more consumers want to consume audiobooks and want to listen to audiobooks,” said Spotify founder and CEO Daniel Ek, speaking at the event.
“And just like in music and podcasting, we’re really excited to be able to bring all the amazing tools that we built for creators and consumers alike to enable more discovery of these amazing audiobooks to the entire world,” he added.
Leveraging its acquisition of the digital audiobook distributor Findaway, Spotify introduced its audiobook service in the US in September 2022. The initial catalogue consisted of 300,000 titles, with plans to expand to other English-speaking markets later in the year and to Canada in early 2023.
During its launch last year, Spotify highlighted the potential of the audiobook market, emphasising that audiobooks accounted for only six to seven per cent of the broader book market, but the category was experiencing steady 20% year-over-year growth.
However, consumers’ experiences with Spotify’s service have not been as seamless as they could be. This is because the company attempted to circumvent the app stores’ regulations regarding in-app purchases by mandating users purchase audiobooks from the Spotify website to play them on its app.
Additionally, Spotify was unable to guide customers to the website due to the app stores’ “anti-steering” rules, which prohibit app developers from directing users to alternative payment methods outside of the app stores’ own payment systems.
With audiobooks becoming accessible as part of the Premium service, listening to books will be more convenient for end users. Spotify’s audiobook catalogue contains over 70% of best-selling titles from major publishers, such as HarperCollins Publishers, Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster and others.
In addition to the 150,000 audiobooks, Spotify is expanding its catalogue with more than 100 million songs and five million podcasts.
