Photo Credit: Spotify
Spotify expands its audiobook access to over 180 markets as subscriptions to its Audiobook+ tier surpass one million users.
It’s a well-known fact at this point that music publishers, particularly in the United States, led by the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA), have furiously decried Spotify’s audiobook bundle as a scheme to lower its royalty obligations—especially its mechanical royalty payments to songwriters and publishers. The ploy involves Spotify adding audiobook access to your plan and charging an extra $1 a month, resulting in a “bundle” that qualifies for lowered royalties.
Nonetheless, the statistics are clear: Spotify reports that more than a million users have subscribed to its Audiobooks+ tier to date. That means users who knowingly chose to subscribe to an audiobook tier, rather than simply shoehorning access into an existing music subscription. Now, the company is expanding audiobook access from 22 markets to over 180.
“Three years ago this fall, we brought audiobooks into Premium to build a better home for book lovers, authors, and publishers. Readers showed up,” Spotify’s announcement read. ” Monthly audiobook listeners grew nearly 40% over the past year, and listening hours climbed more than 30%. Now we get to share that with the rest of the world.”
Spotify’s Audiobooks+ tier is an $11.99 monthly add-on that provides 30 hours of audiobook listening time. The tier alone generated approximately $100 million in annual recurring revenue for the company as of July. Roughly half of those listeners are under 35. Spotify audiobooks also support Page Match, for readers who want to read along in a physical book while listening.
“Books change how we see the world and the people in it,” said Owen Smith, VP of Audiobooks, Spotify. “For a lot of people, audiobooks are how they find their way back to reading, on the commute, on a walk, or at the end of a long day. Bringing audiobooks to more than 180 markets means millions more people can discover that, and authors and publishers can reach readers they’ve never been able to reach before.”
Established audiobook markets include the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Monaco, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Poland, Chile, Norway, Peru, and Argentina. Now, access will expand across Africa and Asia, as well as more European and American countries.