Spotify has been signaling a foray into audiobooks for a couple of years, most prominently with its acquisition of digital audiobook publisher and distributor Findaway, which was completed in June. (Each title will be individually priced.) “Pricing on the retail side is set by the retailer-in this case, Spotify-which is consistent with industry norms,” Zicherman said. Customers will be able to download audiobooks for offline listening, and the user interface provides speed control options, automatic bookmarking, and a rating feature.Īs is the case with other Spotify offerings, audiobook listeners will be able to access their titles across Spotify platforms and compatible devices like smart speakers and cars. To start, Spotify’s audiobooks hub will follow an a la carte business model, through which users purchase individual titles on a linked web page via credit card and save them to their Spotify library. “We believe that we have a potential to massively expand the audience for audiobooks.” In a live-streamed press preview, Nir Zicherman, Spotify’s v-p and global head of audiobooks, called this move the next step in the company’s broader “ambition to become the complete destination for all of people’s listening needs.” Zicherman explained that with Spotify’s entry into podcasts over the past few years, “we made a bet that people would prefer to have a single platform built on user behavior, as in listening, as opposed to content types, as in music or podcasts.” By introducing audiobooks to the lineup, “we see an opportunity to innovate in a substantially untapped market,” he said. Beginning today, Spotify listeners will be able to access a new audiobook-specific user interface to purchase audiobooks from an collection of more than 300,000 titles that features entries from major publishers (including Hachette Audio, Penguin Random House Audio, and Simon & Schuster Audio) as well as independents, in a variety of genres, and will include works by such bestselling authors as Colleen Hoover, Stephen King, and Michelle Obama. Audio streaming subscription platform Spotify, best known for its dominant music and podcast services, has officially launched its audiobook business in the U.S.
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