Spotify Adds 1,000 More Audiobooks for Premium Subscribers
Spotify’s audiobook catalog just got a whole lot bigger. The streamer has struck a new deal with Ingram Content Group (ICG), which holds distribution rights to many smaller publishers and indie publishers; according to the company, “if you’re reading a book, Ingram Content Group is probably behind it.”
The deal is significant because some of the most interesting books published don’t necessarily come from the industry’s giants. According to Duncan Bruce, Spotify’s director of audiobook partnerships and licensing, the deal is “part of our goal to bring more independent authors to Spotify to have their books heard through our Audiobooks in Premium offering.”
Which books can you listen to on Spotify right now?
According to Publishers weeklythe new titles include “Ada Limón’s self-narrated poetry collection The Wounded Kind…as well as Damon Galgut’s Booker Prize-winning novel The promise and the international bestseller by Anne Berest The postcard”. Publishers signed to the new agreement include Europa Editions, Milkweed Editions, G&D Media, Bard Press and New Society Publishers.
Spotify has been in the audiobook business since 2022, when it first added audiobooks to its US catalog. Later that year, they were released in the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. Canada was added in early 2023. At launch, there were 300,000 books available, and the catalog has only grown since then.
According to Spotify, the biggest hits aren’t brand-new books, but backlist books, which is what publishers call older books that are still available in print or digitally. Nine out of the top 10 most-streamed audiobooks are backlist titles, and six of those were released more than five years ago.
As with Spotify’s existing audiobook catalog, the new titles are exclusive to Premium subscribers.