Spotify launches audiobooks in the UK

Spotify’s audiobook catalogue will be available to UK listeners from today (Tuesday 22nd November), featuring new titles from Alex Scott and Richard Osman. 

UK listeners will have access to more than 300,000 titles, available for a-la-carte purchase. The audiobook pillar is now also available in Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, having been rolled out in the US last month.

New titles on offer include Tom Felton’s memoir Beyond the Wand (Ebury), Scott’s How (Not) to Be Strong autobiography (Cornerstone) and Osman’s latest crime novel, The Bullet That Missed (Viking). 

Audiobooks will appear on the app with a lock icon on the play button, signalling that they need to be purchased in order to listen. The book will be automatically saved in a listener’s library, and can be downloaded for offline listening. A rating feature has also been included, which will publicly display the aggregate rating of the book. 

Nir Zichermann, Spotify’s vice-president and global head of Audiobooks and Gated Content, said: "We’ve always believed that the potential for audio is limitless, and we’ve been saying for a while now that our ambition is to be the complete package for everyone’s listening needs. Audiobooks are next to come into the picture because we see a substantial untapped market: While audiobooks represent just a 6%–7% share of the wider book market, the category is growing by 20% year over year. 

"But what we’re really excited about is providing a great new experience for listeners—introducing audiobooks to an audience of people who may never have tried them otherwise. By bringing audiobooks to Spotify, we have the opportunity to both grow the space as a whole and enrich listeners’ lives."