Spotify said that paying users may access up to 15 hours of free listening per month from a selection of 150,000 titles in an effort to kick-start its push into audiobooks.
The audio streamer made the announcement that 300,000 audiobooks will be available for consumers to buy and listen to on Spotify a year ago. Following the completion of its acquisition of audiobook distributor Findaway in June 2022 for around $119 million in cash, Spotify entered the audiobook business.
The majority of the collection will be accessible to Spotify Premium subscribers. All Premium individual accounts as well as plan administrators for Family and Duo accounts will initially receive 15 hours per month of listening. The function will be accessible to UK and Australia Premium subscribers from Thursday and US subscribers could avail it later this year.
The plan appears to give Spotify Premium subscribers a taste of audiobooks in the hopes that they would become hooked and buy more books à la carte.
“We believe that offering personalized music, podcasts, and audiobooks on a single platform gives you a superior way to connect with your favorite artists, podcasters, creators, and authors — all in one spot. Not only can you listen to some of your favorite authors’ works, but you can also tune into podcasts where fans dissect the most minor details of a story and find the hidden meaning in every sentence, without leaving the app,” Spotify said in announcing the launch.
Any audiobook with the designation “Included in Premium” can be found in the Spotify Premium library. Users with Premium audiobook access can also download audiobooks to listen to them offline. With Spotify’s automatic bookmarking feature, you can resume listening where you left off.
With titles from major publishers like Hachette, HarperCollins Publishers, Macmillan, Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, and RB Media, as well as independent authors and publishers worldwide, like Bolinda, Dreamscape, and Pushkin, the company claimed that its audiobook selections currently include up to 70% of the best-selling books.
