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By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
Mann: ‘To Broaden the Reach of Our Books’
This morning (May 21), Spotify has announced that London’s Bonnier Books UK has become a partner with Spotify in its “Audiobooks in Premium” offer. As Publishing Perspectives readers will recall, that offer gives “premium”-subscription members access to 15 hours of audiobook content monthly to what Spotify says is more than 250,000 titles.
Spotify says that since launching the program last autumn in the United Kingdom and Australia—then in the United States, Canada, Ireland, and New Zealand—more than a quarter of its “premium” level subscribers have listened to audiobooks, streaming some part of more than 150,000 titles. As of Q4 2023, Spotify reported that it had as many as 236 million “premium” subscribers.
In the world book industry, there’s been a range of reaction—from the inclusion of audiobooks on the Spotify platform first known for music, podcasts, and video; to the participation of major publishers, some of which had been holdouts from most subscription approaches; and to questions of whether a confirmed music-lover subscribed to Spotify can be wooed to become a regular audiobook listener.
Perminder Mann
In a prepared statement for today’s announcement, Perminder Mann, CEO of Bonnier Books UK—and recently named the new president of the Publishers Association—is quoted, saying, “One of our core values is that every reader matters, and we’re always looking for new ways to broaden the reach of our books to introduce new audiences to our authors’ voices and perspectives.
“Spotify’s ‘Audiobooks in Premium’ program is another positive step forward for authors and publishers, and we look forward to Bonnier Books UK audiobooks being enjoyed by a new generation of audio listeners.”
Today’s news also includes a note that the US-based independent house Blackstone Publishing of Ashland, Oregon.
Duncan Bruce
Duncan Bruce, who is Spotify’s director of audiobook partnerships and licensing, includes an interesting point about the popularity of backlist titles in the offer. He says, “Our partnerships with Blackstone Publishing and Bonnier Books UK make this a possibility with access to our global audience of more than 615 million users.
“Since launching ‘Audiobooks in Premium,’ we’re seeing success with bestsellers, but back catalog titles are also gaining popularity, with 14 of the Top 50 ‘Audiobooks in Premium’ titles having been released before 2020.”
In late March, Spotify announced that its “Audiobooks in Premium” program had seen its catalogue expand to 250,000 from 200,000.
“Since the launch of ‘Audiobooks in Premium’ in Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, Spotify has already paid out tens of millions [of dollars] to audiobook publishers, who in turn pay authors in their repertoires, with more than 150,000 titles listened to [by users] since its launch.
At the time, Spotify put its overall streaming services subscription total at more than 602 million users.
More from Publishing Perspectives on audio in international publishing is here, more on Spotify and its relatively recent foray into audiobook streaming is here, more on podcasts and the industry is here, and more on industry statistics is here.
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