Spotify Brings Narrated Magazine Articles to its App
Spotify is expanding its audio offerings with the addition of narrated long-form magazine articles to its app. The articles will be available to Premium subscribers as part of their 15 hours of audiobook listening time per month, and free users can opt to purchase standalone articles for $1.99.
A New Way to Engage with Content
The articles will be available in English only, with over 650 long-form magazine articles from publications like Rolling Stone, The Atlantic, Vogue, Variety, Billboard, Vibe, GQ, Wired, Vanity Fair, and Pitchfork. Spotify says the articles were produced in-house by its audiobooks team and complement its existing audio offerings, like podcasts.
How it Works
The narrated articles will use a mix of human and digital voice narration, with the portion of the articles using digital voice narration clearly labelled for users. Beyond being another means of bringing monetizable audio to its app, Spotify believes the addition of articles could encourage users to try a different type of listening beyond music, which could ultimately lead them to try other forms of long-form listening, like its potentially more profitable audiobooks.
"By bringing shorter form content into the mix, we’re meeting audiences where they are to help build healthy listening habits, ultimately growing engagement with books over time," noted Colleen Prendergast, Licensing Lead at Spotify Audiobooks, in a blog post about the launch.
What This Means for Users
At present, Spotify offers audiobook listening hours to its paid subscribers as well as "top-up" hours when the listening time runs out. There's also a $9.99 per month Audiobook Access plan for Spotify's free music listeners, and a $11.99 per month Audiobooks+ plan that doubles the listening hours.
The Future of Audio
The addition follows a deluge of news from the streamer in recent weeks, including new features like AI-generated podcasts, AI-powered audiobook creation for authors, support for AI covers and remixes, and other, non-AI features, like fitness content. When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.