The CFO of Spotify, Paul Vogel has announced that the music streaming giant will start testing and trialing audiobooks. The move is aimed at increasing the large portfolio it is offering its customers all over the world with the aim of increasing its users as well as maximizing some areas which have not been explored before.
Vogel had this to say: “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.”
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.
The move is expected to rival other brands which are offering their users an audiobook feature that allows them to listen to audiobooks. Some of its main competitors are Amazon’s Audible, Audiobooks.com, Scribd, and more.
The addition of audiobooks to Spotify will not only see the platform grow but will see publishers and authors grow. It is expected that the move will also influence the books market to move into producing more audiobooks.
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.
Vogel adds: “When it comes to podcasting, we gave you a better experience. There is 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 really innovate and create something that is different.”
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.
