As the audiobooks market grows larger, some players in the podcasting space are beginning to find their way into it. Spotify has announced plans to acquire the audiobook services and distribution company Findaway for an undisclosed price.
In 2019, Spotify had announced its ambition to become the world’s leading platform with an expansion into podcasting through the acquisitions of Anchor and Gimlet. Two years later, the company is widening its reach through the Findaway acquisition.
“It’s Spotify’s ambition to be the destination for all things audio both for listeners and creators. The acquisition of Findaway will accelerate Spotify’s presence in the audiobook space and will help us more quickly meet that ambition,” Gustav Soderstrom, the company’s chief research and development officer said.
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Findaway operates multiple businesses, including distribution of audiobooks to various platforms and offering audiobook creation services under its business Findaway Voices. The company pairs authors with narrators, which could become a new and valuable source of revenue for Spotify.
“We’re excited to combine Findaway’s team, best-in-class technology platform, and robust audiobook catalog with Spotify’s expertise to revolutionize the audiobook space as we did with music and podcasts,” Soderstrom said.
Besides other benefits, the acquisition will also make Spotify both a commercial bookseller and a publisher of audiobooks, a title the company has been hesitant to accept for its podcasting efforts. The purchase also marks Spotify’s most significant investment in audiobooks, and is the latest sign of its ambition to grow beyond a music app to become the default service for audio of all kinds.
“The goal is for Spotify listeners to be able to buy any audiobook in the world. If you are a true-crime podcast junkie, you are buying true crime audiobooks as well. Spotify has experimented with audiobooks for a couple of years, offering some titles in the public domain, like “Jane Eyre,” for free,” Soderstrom explained.
Findaway has invested billions of dollars in the purchase of podcast studios and technology. The company expects the purchase to close this year, at which point it will begin adding more audiobooks to its service. As part of the acquisition deal, Publishers and authors working with Findaway must agree to distribute on Spotify and it will sell individual audiobooks to all of its users.
Authors and publishers who use their own payment processing technology will be able to keep all of the sales, while those who use Spotify’s technology will share the revenue. Individual authors will be able to self-distribute books. Findaway will maintain its headquarters in Solon, Ohio, and will continue to be led by founder and Chief Executive Officer Mitch Kroll.
Amazon.com Inc.’s Audible is the dominant player in audiobooks, and Spotify hopes to compete by putting books in front of its nearly 400 million listeners.
The two companies are expected to work together to accelerate Spotify’s entry into the audiobook space through innovations that will also help creators on their platform to achieve economic growth.
The Audiobooks market was valued at $4 billion in 2020, and is estimated to reach $20 billion by 2030. Audiobooks were launched in 1932 by The American Foundation for the Blind, to give visually impaired people access to books. It is recently becoming more popular, and companies are reaching out to cash in on its popularity.