Spotify opens audiobook business

The Future. Spotify is officially getting into the audiobook business via an “a la carte” model — each book costs an additional fee on top of the monthly subscription. Spotify’s platform dominance may make the rollout a moderate success no matter what, but it may not truly take off until it’s merged into the subscription price or at least is a discounted option.

Streaming library

THR reports that Spotify is getting really into reading.

• Audiobooks will be available to purchase through Spotify, and then the books can be listened to on the app either online or offline.
• Unfortunately, that means that audiobooks won’t be available as part of either the Premium or Ad-Supported plan.
• Each book will be offered at a typical market price, and unlike Audible, there are no discounts for Premium subscribers (for now).
• And because playlists are all the rage, the company will roll out editorially-curated reading lists, with algorithm-powered recommendations soon to follow.

Spotify will have 300,000 titles available to start from both major and independent publishers. It’s only available to US users at the moment.

Reboot reading

Spotify has been teasing its literary ambitions for a while, with its biggest step being a $119 million acquisition of audiobook platform Findaway late last year. It also poked around for interest by releasing several classic novels, like Frankenstein and Persuasion, read aloud by celebrities. 

Spotify is known to go on a startup-acquisition spree when it’s looking to enter a new market (just look at the many acquisitions it made in the podcast space). While audiobooks look like a trickier market than podcasts, Spotify will probably try to turn up interest by inking exclusive deals with authors to make originals for the platform.