In Spotify’s rapidly evolving quest to become the home of all things audio, the company was announced on Tuesday that brings narrated feature-length magazine articles to her app. Articles will be available to Premium subscribers as part of them 15 hours of audiobook listening time per month. Free users can choose to purchase standalone articles for $1.99.
The streaming service said that, starting today, there will be over 650 full-length magazine articles (available in English only) from publications including Rolling Stone, The Atlantic, Vogue, Variety, Billboard, Vibe, GQ, Wired, Vanity Fair and Pitchfork. Spotify says the articles are produced in-house by its audiobook team and complement Spotify’s existing audio offerings, such as podcasts.
Spotify tells TechCrunch that narrated articles will use a combination of human and digital voice narration, and that the section of articles that use digital voice narration will be clearly labeled for users.
In addition to being another way to bring monetizable audio to its app, Spotify believes that adding articles could encourage users to try a different type of listening beyond music, which could eventually lead them to try other forms of long-form listening, such as its potentially more profitable audiobooks.
“By introducing shorter-form content into the mix, we’re meeting audiences where they’ll help build healthy listening habits, ultimately increasing book engagement over time,” noted Colleen Prendergast, head of licensing at Spotify Audiobooks, in a blog post. position about the launch.
Spotify currently offers audiobook listening hours to its paid subscribers as well as “top-up” hours when listening time runs out. There is also $9.99 per month Audiobook access program for Spotify’s free music listeners and an $11.99 per month Audiobooks+ plan; which doubles the listening hours.
The addition follows a flurry of news from the streamer in recent weeks. That’s led the company to make big leaps into the world of audio AI with new features like AI-generated podcasts, similar to what you might create with a research app like Google’s NotebookLM. AI-powered audiobook creation for authors. Support for AI covers and remixes. and other non-AI features such as fitness content.
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