Spotify adding over 300,000 audiobooks for purchase


Spotify is beginning a new chapter.
The streaming platform announced Tuesday it is now offering audiobooks for purchase in the United States. More than 300,000 audiobooks are being added beginning today.
Though these audiobooks will show up in Spotify via search, users will have to purchase them at a web page, at which point they'll become available in their Spotify library and can be downloaded to listen to offline.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Spotify with this move is hoping to take on audiobook services like Audible, which is owned by Amazon. But a key difference, The Hollywood Reporter noted, is that unlike Audible, Spotify isn't offering discounts on audiobook purchases for its Premium subscribers at this stage.
Spotify Vice President and Global Head of Audiobooks and Gated Content Nir Zicherman described this as part of an effort to make Spotify the "complete package for everyone's listening needs," comparing it to the way the company previously added podcasts to the service. Podcasting has since become crucial to Spotify, which has made high-profile deals for podcasts with everyone from Joe Rogan to Barack and Michelle Obama.
Spotify also previously acquired the audibook platform Findaway for almost $120 million, saying this would allow it to "quickly scale" its audiobook catalog.
"We believe that audio and long-form content is a much bigger business than what many would have thought," Zicherman said. "Our expansion into audiobooks is a significant proof-point in that belief. And this is just the beginning."
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.
-
Court rejects Trump suit against Maryland US judges
Speed Read Judge Thomas Cullen, a Trump appointee, said the executive branch had no authority to sue the judges
-
Crossword: August 27, 2025
The Week's daily crossword
-
August 27 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Wednesday’s political cartoons include a KKK rebrand, Donald Trump vs. Gavin Newsom, and Ghislaine Maxwell as the new Celebrity Apprentice
-
New York court tosses Trump's $500M fraud fine
Speed Read A divided appeals court threw out a hefty penalty against President Trump for fraudulently inflating his wealth
-
Trump said to seek government stake in Intel
Speed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to China
Speed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with Disney
Speed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B deal
Speed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance merger
Speed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
-
Tesla reports plummeting profits
Speed Read The company may soon face more problems with the expiration of federal electric vehicle tax credits
-
Dollar faces historic slump as stocks hit new high
Speed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year