Spotify Unveils New Business Model: Audiobooks Now Included for Premium Subscribers

Spotify Unveils Free Audiobooks for Premium Subscribers

New Service to Launch in the U.K. and Australia, Coming Soon to the U.S.

Spotify, the popular music streaming platform, is expanding its reach into the world of audiobooks. At an event hosted in its New York offices on Tuesday afternoon, the company announced a new business model that will provide Spotify Premium subscribers with access to a subset of its audiobooks catalog at no additional charge.

Starting today, the service will launch in the U.K. and Australia, with plans to roll out in the U.S. later this year and in more markets to follow. This move is expected to increase user engagement with Spotify and reduce churn, ultimately driving revenue and profit for the company.

Spotify founder and CEO Daniel Ek expressed his excitement about the potential for audiobooks, stating, “Audiobooks today have one big dominating player. And just like in music and podcasting, we believe that many more consumers want to consume audiobooks and want to listen to audiobooks.”

Spotify’s venture into audiobooks began in September 2022 with the launch of its digital audiobook distributor Findaway. At that time, the catalog included 300,000 titles, which has now grown to 150,000 titles available to Premium subscribers. The company recognized the growing market for audiobooks, noting that while they currently account for only 6-7% of the wider book market, the category is growing at a rate of 20% year-over-year.

Previously, using Spotify’s audiobook service was not as seamless for consumers due to restrictions imposed by app stores. Users had to purchase audiobooks from the Spotify website and play them in the app, which was inconvenient. However, with the integration of audiobooks into the Premium service, listening to these books will become much easier for end users.

The company also aims to solve the distribution and discovery problem in the audiobooks market, replicating the success it has achieved with music and podcasts. Spotify co-president and chief business officer Alex Norström stated, “Tens of millions of Premium subscribers are already interested in listening to audiobooks. They just need the opportunity.”

In addition to the availability of audiobooks, Spotify will provide curated recommendations and personalized suggestions to users based on their tastes. The company’s VP, Head of Audiobooks Business, David Kaefer, shared their plans to feature editorial recommendations and genre-specific shelves in the audiobooks hub.

Authors will also benefit from new tools offered by Spotify, including customizable promo cards and performance analytics. As the feature rolls out to supported markets, available audiobooks included with the Premium offering will be clearly marked, allowing subscribers to easily identify books they can stream at no cost.

With instant access, discovery, prominent placement, social amplification, and dedicated tools, Spotify aims to increase the number of people listening to audiobooks and enhance their overall engagement with the format. As the company continues to innovate and expand its offerings, the future of audiobooks on the platform appears promising.

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