Spotify hope to draw in audiobook lovers beyond music fans with a new offering but is it a swing and a miss for the world’s top streamer?

Spotify is the number one music streaming platform in the world, accounting for 20% of the global recorded record industry revenues. But, they’ve been looking to expand. First with podcasts and now with a huge push into the world of audiobooks.

Last year, Spotify added 15 hours of audiobook listening as a Premium subscriber benefit at no extra cost. The fresh audiobook engagement created by this addition was so significant that it has since seen the US audiobook industry grow.

To give audiobooks even more chance to shine on their platform, Spotify have launched a new subscription offering. The Audiobooks Access Tier offers 15 hours of listening to over 200,000 titles across their service. The offering costs $9.99 a month.

Music and podcasts will be available to these subscribers, but not on a Premium level – meaning ads will play between podcasts and their music queue. At just a dollar cheaper than a Spotify Premium account which includes ad-free music, offline listening, and 15 hours of audiobook listening, it’s difficult to see why users might choose the audiobook tier unless they really aren’t interested in music and want to save that extra dollar a month.

Spotify promise that they “will continue to invest in giving our listeners more options to cater to their unique needs”.

Discover all you need to know about audiobooks on Spotify from their dedicated page here. It shows what’s on offer within Premium, Audiobook Access, and for outright purchases.

Upload your music to Spotify at no cost to reach a global audience and start earning from your first stream. This and more is available for free at www.routenote.com.