Spotify"s Audiobooks in Premium feature launched a year ago in the US, bringing 200,000 audiobooks at no additional cost to subscribers. Since then, it has rolled out across Canada, the U.K., Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand, and today, it will be launching the feature in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. These audiobooks also include work from local authors, such as Gaël Faye, Maylis de Kerangal, Joël Dicker, Suzanne Vermeer, and Saskia Noort.
The Managing Director of Spotify Western Europe, Antoine Monin, said:
Spotify’s reach presents a significant opportunity to expand the audiobooks market across France, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg,” and “Since our launch in Western Europe 16 years ago, Spotify has evolved into a leading platform for music, podcasts, and now audiobooks. We are proud to spotlight this region’s rich literary tradition, with 15,000 French and 15,000 Dutch and Flemish titles joining our catalog, advancing our mission to empower audio creators globally and connect them with audiences both locally and internationally.
Audiobooks on Spotify that are not included within the Premium plan. They can be purchased separately, as Spotify aims to compete with Amazon"s Audible platform. This seems to be paying off for it as it now sits at number 2 in the audiobook provider rankings behind Audible, but whether it continues to make strides towards overtaking it remains to be seen.
The feature is offered to all Premium individual subscribers, as well as plan managers for Family and Duo accounts, and gives 12 hours of listening per month (books that are included in the Premium). If you get through this (which is easily done on larger titles from Fantasy or Science Fiction genres) before the monthly billing cycle refresh, a 10-hour top-up can be purchased for €9.99. This is a different strategy from Audible, which grants Credits that can be used to buy a title each month, and you can listen as much as you want within the month.