Spotify introduces AI tool for authors to create audiobooks
What's the story
Spotify has unveiled a new artificial intelligence (AI) tool, powered by ElevenLabs, to enable authors to self-publish their audiobooks. The feature will be available in beta from June on an invite-only basis and will initially support only English. This development comes as part of Spotify's ongoing efforts to expand its "Spotify for Authors" platform and make audiobook creation more accessible.
Author autonomy
No exclusive contracts for authors
The new AI-powered audiobook generation tool from Spotify doesn't tie authors into an exclusive contract. This means that they are free to publish their generated audiobooks on any platform of their choice. The move is in line with Spotify's previous partnership with ElevenLabs, which allowed writers to submit audiobooks created on the voice AI start-up's platform to Spotify.
Platform growth
Spotify expands 'Spotify for Authors's platform
Along with the new AI tool, Spotify is also expanding its "Spotify for Authors" platform to support 10 more languages. These include French, Canadian French, German, Dutch, Latin American Spanish, Swedish, Finnish, Icelandic, Danish, and Norwegian. The company also plans to expand its Audiobook+ plans this year for higher listening limits and new options for students and families in the future.
Catalog growth
Audiobook push has increased Spotify's listening hours significantly
Spotify has been focusing heavily on audiobooks in recent years, growing its catalog to 700,000 titles. The company has taken the program global, invested in non-English titles, enabled in-app purchases, and launched audiobook charts. This year alone, it started a program for authors to sell physical books in the US and UK. These efforts have reportedly increased listening hours by 60% year-on-year (YoY), with more than half of its audiobook listeners starting in the last year.