Spotify Technology is entering the physical book business.
Starting this spring, the Swedish streaming service, in partnership with Bookshop.org, will allow premium subscribers in the US and UK to purchase hardcovers and paperbacks through its app. Spotify to launch its audiobook offering in 2022.
Bookshop.org, which shares part of its profits with local, independent bookstores, will set retail prices, hold inventory and fulfill sales for Spotify.
Spotify will receive an undisclosed affiliate fee for purchases made inside its app.
The offering would be another point of competition for Amazon.com, the country’s largest online bookseller, whose business units include leading audiobook service Audible.
“We want to expand the audience for books,” said Owen Smith, Spotify’s global head of audiobooks.
Spotify began selling audiobooks to US users on an a la carte basis in September 2022; The following year, it made it available for premium subscribers in select countries to listen to 15 hours of audiobooks per month. Users can also choose to purchase additional listening time.
Publishers welcomed Spotify’s entry into the audiobook market, seeing it as a necessary rival to Amazon and an opportunity to connect with new audiences. News Corp said Spotify contributed to increased audiobook sales for HarperCollins Publishers in its most recent financial year.
“They expanded the market and they’re reaching a younger demographic,” said Chantal Restivo-Alessi, chief digital officer and chief executive, international, at HarperCollins Publishers. News Corp also owns The Wall Street Journal.
Dow Jones, publisher of The Wall Street Journal, has entered into a content partnership with Spotify.
Digital audiobook sales are projected to reach nearly $1 billion by November 2025, up 2.4% from the same period a year earlier, according to the Association of American Publishers. In contrast, print book sales remain flat in 2025, according to book tracker Circana BookScan.
Andy Hunter, founder and chief executive of Bookshop.org, said there are also a growing number of people who want to own both physical and audio formats of the same book.
“They read at night and then listen in their car or on the subway while going to work,” he said.
Spotify is also introducing a feature called Page Match, which enables users to sync their audiobooks with physical books by scanning a page from a printed book or ebook reader with their phone, then finding that exact spot in the audiobook version.
Smith said more than half of premium-tier users are trying out audiobooks. “It’s about meeting people where they are,” he said.
Jeffrey A. Write to Trachtenberg at Jeffrey.Trachtenberg@wsj.com
