Spotify will now offer more than 1,000 audiobooks from some 100 publishers distributed by Ingram Content Group (ICG), thanks to a new partnership between the streaming giant and Ingram. The newly added audiobooks come from a range of small and independent publishers, including Europa Editions, Milkweed Editions, G&D Media, Bard Press, and New Society Publishers.
Among the new titles on offer from Spotify Ada Limón's self-narrated poetry collection The Hurting Kind, published by Milkweed, as well as Damon Galgut's Booker Prize–winning novel The Promise and Anne Berest's international bestseller The Postcard (tr. Tina Kover), both published by Europa.
“Our partnership with Ingram Content Group is part of our goal to bring more independent authors to Spotify to get their books heard through our Audiobooks in Premium offering," said Duncan Bruce, director of audiobook partnerships and licensing at Spotify. He added that Ingram's position as a major distributor for independent publishers would help grow the industry and create new opportunities for authors and publishers to reach audiences.
Agustina Casal, director of digital sales and marketing at ICG, emphasized the company's commitment to expanding book accessibility, stating, "Ingram Content Group is dedicated to bringing more books, in all formats, to more readers."
Spotify's Audiobooks in Premium plan, launched in November 2023, offers access to hundreds of thousands of audio titles. The company has said that backlist titles are the most popular, with nine of the top 10 audiobooks streamed on Spotify being backlist titles, and six of those released over five years ago.
Earlier this week, Spotify announced that its second quarter operating income was €266 million ($288 million) based on sales of €3.81 billion ($4.14 billion), after showing a loss of €247 million for the same period last year. Gross margins were 29.2%. Spotify added that its subscriber base hit 246 million, up 12% from the same period last year, while monthly active users jumped 14% to 626 million.
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek said the company's profitability was the result of the company making the app “stickier." He specifically credited new countdown pages that allow users to anticipate the release of new audiobooks as among the important new features contributing to the streaming service's recent success.
