Spotify has announced it has acquired an audiobook distribution and service company called Findaway. It was not stated how much the acquisition cost.
Findaway itself already operates multiple businesses, including distributing audiobooks across multiple platforms and offering audiobook creation services under its business, Findaway Voices.
Even Findway said that this acquisition could be a new and valuable source of revenue for Spotify. It will also become Spotify as a commercial bookseller and audiobook publisher.
"With this acquisition, we will be able to accelerate the addition of our audiobook catalog to the platform so that users can effectively get all the audio content they want on one platform," said Nir Zicherman, Head of Audiobooks at Spotify.
Zicherman said Spotify is focused on innovation in the space to make audiobooks a richer experience, as well as democratizing where more people can create and publish more audiobooks.
Zicherman declined to share specifics about the exclusives that may be a factor in Spotify's audiobook strategy but praised the company's work with creators.
"Voices today allows content creators to distribute widely. And it's a very important part of the offering and something we plan to maintain and support because we think it's part of what makes the platform so powerful from a creator's point of view." .
Zicherman also said Spotify's core app is likely to get more audiobooks in early 2022 when certain Open Access partnerships start distributing content there.
