Spotify introduces audiobooks to its US catalog

oh Spotify was added Audiobooks Tuesday (20) for table of contents. In total, the platform has more than 300,000 titles that can be accessed upon purchase. This mechanism is only active for US users.

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Second Nir Zicherman, Vice President and Global Head of Audiobooks and Closed Content at SpotifyIn an interview For documentation, The potential of audio is limitless and the platform aims to create a complete package for users’ needs.

“Audiobooks are next because we see a significant untapped market: they represent only 6% to 7% of the broader book market, a category that is growing at 20% per year.”

The new Engine platform is available as a section in the library with the ‘Songs’ and ‘Podcasts’ categories, search and curated recommendations on the ‘Home’.

How to listen to audiobooks on Spotify?

Audiobooks appear with a padlock icon on the play button, indicating that they must be purchased to listen on the webpage. When returning SpotifyThe book is automatically saved to your library and available for listening.

Listeners can download content for offline listening. Speed ​​control is also included, with various options to increase or decrease the speed. For those who want to share their feedback after listening to a book, there is also a rating feature which displays the total rating publicly.

According to Zicherman, oh Spotify The company believes that audio and long-form content is a higher-than-expected business.

“Like we did with the podcast, the audiobook will introduce a new format to an audience that has never consumed it, opening up a new segment of potential listeners. It also enables us to support a wide variety of creators and connect them with fans who love their art, which makes it even more exciting.