At Spotify in Stockholm. Image – Getty: Alexander Farnsworth
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
Spotify Opens Distribution of Bloomsburg Audio
This morning from Bedford Square (November 22), Bloomsbury announced a distribution agreement with Spotify.
The arrangement is to make Bloomsbury’s audiobook catalogue available through Spotify’s “Audiobooks in Premium” offer to customers.
That catalogue through this development should become available to premium subscribers in the United Kingdom, the United States, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. Consumers without a Spotify premium subscription can buy titles through the “A La Carte” availability.
Sam Halstead, who directs Bloomsbury’s audio, is quoted today, saying,
Sam Halstead
“The digital audio market continues to see strong growth globally, and our priority is to ensure that our authors’ and narrators’ works are part of this.
“We’re passionate about bringing the creative talents of our audio service to as many listeners as possible,” she says, ” as part of our mission to inform, educate, entertain, and inspire readers of all ages and backgrounds. The Spotify service is incredibly seamless and we feel confident that this partnership will tempt and introduce a whole new generation of listeners to our audiobooks for years to come.”
In Bloomsbury’s information from this morning, Spotify’s international reach and access encompasses more than 252 million subscribers. Promotional copy on the Spotify audiobooks landing page seen in the United States refers to a total of 375,000 titles “available to purchase in the Spotify Web Player, then listen on any device. from Spotify
The Bloomsbury content going onto the platform is to include children’s books and “family-listening” content.
Duncan Bruce
Duncan Bruce, who is Spotify’s director of audiobook partnerships and licensing, says, “As we celebrate the one-year anniversary of ‘Audiobooks in Premium,’ there’s no better way to build on our momentum than with the addition of Bloomsbury’s beloved library.
“This partnership allows us to expand our author line-up and give listeners an even wider array of titles to enjoy, bringing us another step forward” in its presentation of audiobook content.
Bloomsbury’s audio catalogue holds the work of authors including Sarah J. Maas, William Dalrymple, Alan Moore, Madeline Miller, Dan Jones, Samantha Shannon and Ann Patchett. Readers of the company’s audiobooks include Meryl Streep, Emilia Clarke, Adjoa Andoh, and Jamie Lee Curtis.
Several works that get specific mentions in today’s consumer-messaging include Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell; Cuddy by Benjamin Myers, which won the Goldsmith’s prize in 2023; “and the IPG Audiobook of the Year Ghosts, read by the cast of the show.”
Katherine Rundell’s Impossible Creatures is another work mentioned, in an edition read by Sam West.
In nonfiction, Bloomsbury’s canon has the work of historians and other authors, including William Dalrymple, and Colum McCann.”
Bloomsbury’s offices, as our internationalist book-business readership knows, are in London, New York City, New Delhi, Oxford, and Sydney.”
More from Publishing Perspectives on audio and audiobooks is here; more on Spotify is here, more on Bloomsbury is here, and more on the United Kingdom’s market is here.
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