Spotify To Begin Testing, Trialing Of Audiobooks

Spotify CFO Paul Vogel has announced that the music streaming platform will soon begin testing and trialing audiobooks.

The Spotify executive said the company plans to continue to expand its portfolio of products, as it sees opportunities for growth in both its established markets and its developing markets.

“It is going to come out soon, but I would say don’t expect that to be the last change or improvement we make on the audiobooks offering,” said Vogel

Spotify is intending to treat this new project the same way as its podcast offering. The streaming platform will endeavor to offer an enhanced UI for listening to audiobooks as well.

“When it comes to podcasting, we gave you a better experience,” Vogel said. “There was no reason for you to switch from whatever you used for podcasts to Spotify unless we created an environment where it was better and easier for you. And we think there are similar opportunities in audiobooks where we can innovate and create something that is different.”

Spotify aims at adding audiobooks to its platform to create an environment that can rival other audiobook players, like Amazon’s Audible, Audiobooks.com, and Scribd.

Vogel noted that the addition of audiobooks on Spotify is a growth opportunity for publishers and authors with the upcoming launch helping them to grow the books and audiobooks market in general.

Vogel’s comments come as Spotify has been inching toward an audiobook product over the past year. Last fall, the company acquired audiobook distributor Findaway for an undisclosed sum. At the time, Spotify said it planned to build on Findaway’s existing investments in the audio industry.

In January 2021, the company started testing the audiobook format with several classics such as “Harry Porter” and “Frankenstein.” The same year in May saw the company announce a partnership with Storytel, an audiobook platform. The move was aimed at allowing Spotify users to be able to access audiobooks through their Spotify application.

On another note, Spotify will also launch a new ticketing product which is a new way through which monetization will be boosted. This comes after the launch of a new site by the company last month with the aim of selling tickets to live gigs directly from their platform.

The ticketing site has seen a rise in listening habits after different customers who purchased tickets to different events tend to listen more to music by the artists on Spotify. The ticketing site has not been launched officially yet but is available to the public to book tickets.