Are Spotify Audio Books the next Big Thing? Will they over take Amazon’s Audible?
parts of this artcle from The Hustle
So while everyone in my freshman class was dreading the thick boring read of Tale of Two Cites, I relied on my 18 page pamplet cliff notes to ace the dreaded test.
With that said, today, my goal is to read or in most cases listen to 50 business books a year. I am an auditory learner and learn much more by listening than I do reading.
We sponsor a business book club,CMG Book Club, and most of those members also prefer the audio version of books. So this is an industry that is growing rapidly.
I have an audible membership and I love it and recommend to all my friends and business associates.
| Who will win the audiobook wars? |
| Today, audiobooks make up just ~$9B of the $140B global book industry. By 2030, that segment is forecasted to reach $35B+, and with so much growth expected, it’s no surprise the market is heating up.With music and podcasts under its belt, and almost a year after acquiring audiobook distribution platform Findaway, Spotify recently launched its own audiobooks section, serving up 300k+ titles.That puts it in Amazon’s sights…… with Audible commanding the largest share of the US market.
Still, it’s clear Spotify is uniquely positioned to take them on.The Spotify Machine, as CEO Daniel Ek calls it, represents the company’s proven practice of bundling verticals “into a single consumer experience… that benefits users, creators, ad partners, developers and Spotify itself.”Spotify has spent years oiling its music and podcast verticals. It dominates the music streaming market and claims to have surpassed Apple in podcast listeners.Audiobooks make economic senseSpotify is notorious for stiffing artists on royalties, but the streamer still spent ~$7B on music payouts in 2021. While audiobooks aren’t quite as attractive as podcasts, which have zero marginal costs, their margins are better than music.For now, the company offers audiobooks a la carte, but it’s studying business models that involve advertising within audiobooks.Parents may rejoice at the result, as users could potentially see more promotion for teen novels, and less for the latest Drake album. We make some of the books I have written over the years available on audible, and they do very well on that platform, we need to look into Spotify and learn what is required to get them listed on that platform as well.
|
