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.
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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."
