Spotify Buys Audio Tech Firm to expand Audiobook business

On Thursday, Spotify made a significant push to have more audiobooks on its platform. It started fulfilling this idea by buying Findaway, the US-based audio tech company, trying to push its success with podcasts.

Findaway offers a global audiobook catalog. It has partnerships with audiobook publishers like Apple iBooks, Amazon’s Audible, Google, and Storytel. It also has Voices helping authors to self-publish their writings.

In an interview, Gustav Söderström, Chief Research & Development Officer, said that this is the first big move in achieving their goals. The goal is to allow Spotify consumers to buy audiobooks they want on Spotify and listen to them at any time. The terms of the transaction are expected to close in the fourth quarter, but they have not been disclosed yet.

Spotify has a plan for developing a playbook similar to its podcast business. At the beginning of 2018, it expanded into podcasts with a string of acquisitions. Analysts expect it to overtake Apple with more than 3 million titles by the end of the year. Spotify has already made a partnership with Storytel, a Swedish audiobook streaming group, to provide its subscribers with audiobooks to listen to. The company had also launched its Open Access Platform designed for publishers to stream their work.

Söderström said that according to the survey, many Spotify users who listened to true crime podcasts also decided to buy true crime audiobooks. He also talked about a new feature for publishers, saying that that’s significant potential. In his opinion, the company made a good decision as they have a user base that is an excellent target for audiobooks. The total monthly active users on Spotify increased 18 percent to 382 million in the most current quarter, with revenue of about 2.6 billion euros. According to research firm Omdia, the global audiobooks market will be worth $9.4 billion by the end of 2026 from just $5 billion in 2020.

How to adjust the streaming quality

Spotify allows you to adjust your music’s audio quality. This option is advantageous if you use mobile data and you want to save some of your phone bills. By reducing the audio quality, you save your mobile data because the app will use less data. 

How to use this feature:

1. Open the Spotify app.
2. Then open Settings.
3. Scroll down and hit Audio Quality.
4. Under Cellularstreaming, you can choose Low, Normal, High, or Automatic. The Automatic option has the ability to adjust the audio quality according to your signal strength.