Spotify intends to be the only place you go to listen to anything. Except maybe your parents. You’ll only listen to them when you’re older and know better. In the meantime, you’ll keep telling your parents stories. Speaking of stories…
Spotify has officially added an all-new feature — audiobooks. Audiobooks aren’t completely new on the platform. You’ll find them there now if you search for them, but they may not be officially sanctioned.
Spotify is booking it
This time around, it’s purchasable. As in, the audiobooks are purchasable. Spotify is adding some 300,000 books to the platform but listeners won’t have access to them unless they pay. It’s not a subscription fee, either. Avid audio-bibliophiles will have to buy each book before they look at it.
“Audiobooks will show up with a lock icon on the play button, signaling that they need to be purchased in order to listen. Users who discover audiobooks in the Spotify app will be able to purchase them on a web page. Upon returning to Spotify, the book will be automatically saved in their library and available to listen to whenever they want.” – Spotify VP Nir Zicherman.
There is another catch because there always is. The audiobook launch is confined to Spotify users in the States for the moment. Those users will see a new dedicated tab for vocally-performed narrative journies from today.
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There’s more to come from Spotify in terms of audiobook content and availability. The company also plans to “…enhance the experience with new features, plan for launches in additional markets, and innovate on the format”. What that’ll all look like, we can’t really say. But we will keep an eye out for anything new and interesting in the coming months. The world of so-called Spotify Originals surely can’t be far behind this announcement.