Photo Credit: Spotify
Spotify expands audiobooks into the UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand, with a catalog of more than 300,000 titles.
Spotify users in the UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand, can now purchase and listen to a catalog of more than 300,000 audiobook titles. From Tom Felton’s new memoir Beyond the Wand, Alex Scott’s autobiography How (Not) to Be Strong, to Richard Osman’s latest murder mystery novel The Bullet That Missed, fans of fiction and non-fiction will find plenty of old and new favorites alike.
Users can find audiobooks on Spotify alongside music and podcasts as a section in their library, in search, and their recommendations on the Home screen. Books will be available for a one-time purchase, and users can preview the content for free before purchasing.
As with music, listeners can download audiobooks for offline listening, and an automatic bookmarking feature saves your place so you can pick up reading where you left off. Speed controls can control the pace of the narration for users who want to get through a book more quickly or slow down the pace for dramatic effect. Like other audiobook services, listeners can rate a title they’ve read and view its cumulative score.
“This is just the beginning of Spotify’s audiobooks journey,” says the company. “We’ve been working to create a seamless audiobooks experience, and we’ll continue to build and innovate on this in the future.”
Spotify launched audiobooks in the US in September, stating that the expansion was proof that “audio and long-form content is a much bigger business than many would have thought.” While audiobooks represent just a 6 to 7% share of the broader book market, the company says that the category is growing by 20% year-on-year.
The streaming giant previously made a significant push into podcasts, gobbling up audio software companies to make it easier for would-be creators to produce content and episodic shows on their platform. Spotify also secured deals with high-profile creators and celebrities like Joe Rogan, the Obamas, and YouTube star Emma Chamberlain.