Spotify Announces Free Audiobooks Access for Premium Subscribers

Spotify unveiled its plans for the future of its audiobooks service today. The company announced a new business model at an event in its New York office, where Spotify Premium subscribers will now have access to a subset of its audiobooks catalog without any additional charge. This includes a total of 150,000 titles.

Expansion and Launch Dates

The service will initially launch in the U.K. and Australia starting today, with the U.S. release set for later this year. More markets are expected to follow.

Empowering Audiobook Consumption

Spotify’s founder and CEO, Daniel Ek, expressed excitement about catering to more consumers who want to listen to audiobooks. He emphasized bringing Spotify’s tools for creators and consumers to enable greater discovery of audiobooks worldwide.

Growth Potential

With its acquisition of Findaway, a digital audiobook distributor, Spotify entered the audiobooks market last year. Initially debuting in the U.S., it quickly expanded to other English-speaking markets before reaching Canada in early 2023. Audiobooks only accounted for a small share of the wider book market, but the category was experiencing significant growth.

Better User Experience

Prior to this announcement, using Spotify’s audiobooks service posed some challenges for users due to restrictions from app stores. Customers were required to purchase audiobooks from the Spotify website to play them within the app. However, anti-steering rules prevented Spotify from directing customers to alternative payment methods. Now, with access to audiobooks included in the Premium service, listening will become easier for end users.

Business and Revenue Benefits

Daniel Ek highlighted this change as a means of increasing user engagement and reducing churn while providing flexibility to improve revenue and profit.

Audiobook Market Challenges

The company acknowledged distribution and discovery challenges within today’s audiobooks market. Spotify aims to address these issues similarly to how it has revolutionized music and podcasts.

Available Titles and Time Limitations

Out of its broader catalog of 300,000 titles, Spotify will include half of them in the Premium subscription. Subscribers can listen to unlimited books but time-limited to 15 hours per month. Additional listening time can be purchased through a “top-off” option.

Editorial Recommendations and Personalized Suggestions

Spotify plans to offer editorial recommendations of books and personalized suggestions based on users’ tastes. These features will be prominently displayed in the audiobooks hub, including feature shelves highlighting popular genres.

Enhanced Author Tools

Authors will gain access to new tools such as customizable promo cards to capture users’ attention. Spotify also plans to introduce more advanced analytics tools for authors to monitor title performance.

User-friendly Features

As the audiobooks roll out, users can easily identify available titles included in the Premium offering with a special flag. Sharing favorite audiobooks on social media is made simple with built-in sharing tools, and users can curate their own audiobook playlists.

Spotify believes these features will increase audiobook consumption by providing instant access, better discovery, front-and-center placement, easy social sharing, and dedicated tools.