The Audiobook industry is the fastest-growing segment in digital publishing. In 2023, the format generated $2 billion in the United States alone. The industry is in a state of consolidation. Audiobooks.com was sold to Storytel in 2022, and Spotify bought Findaway, one of the largest audiobook distributors. RBMedia has been on a tear, buying smaller companies. Today, RBMedia … [Read more...] about Audiobook Consolidation Continues: RBmedia to Acquire Dreamscape Media
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Spotify is forging new partnerships for audiobooks
Spotify is making a significant move in the audiobook industry, solidifying its commitment by forming two new partnerships. The platform has recently inked deals with Bonnier Books UK and Blackstone Publishing, adding their extensive collections of vibrant, award-winning audio titles to our Audiobooks in Premium offer. Based in London, Bonnier Books UK is one of Britain’s … [Read more...] about Spotify is forging new partnerships for audiobooks
Spotify To Offer Paying Subscribers Free Audiobook Trial
Spotify, a leading music streaming company, plans to offer a free audiobook bundle to its subscribers in the coming months, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reports. The trial will allow Spotify's paid subscribers to listen to up to 20 hours of audiobooks monthly for free. This reflects Spotify's effort to become a leading platform for audiobooks by partnering with big U.S. … [Read more...] about Spotify To Offer Paying Subscribers Free Audiobook Trial
Spotify is waiving distribution fees in its bid to lure in more indie authors
Findaway, an audiobooks retailer under Spotify's ownership, has announced that it will waive its 20 percent royalty cut on titles sold via its DIY Voices platform as long as the transactions take place on Spotify. According to a blog post from the company on Monday, Findaway aims to "transfer cost-saving benefits" stemming from its incorporation with the music streaming giant. … [Read more...] about Spotify is waiving distribution fees in its bid to lure in more indie authors
Audiobook Narrators and Authors Fear Apple Using Their Voices to Train AI
Spotify’s audiobook narrators and authors became angry after learning of a clause in the agreement between authors and Findaway Voices – a leading audiobook distributor. Findaway Voices allowed Apple to use audiobook files for training machine learning (ML) models. Some authors and narrators say they were unaware of the clause. Many believe they signed off on the ML clause … [Read more...] about Audiobook Narrators and Authors Fear Apple Using Their Voices to Train AI
TuneIn now has audiobooks after first introducing podcasts
Before music and podcast app Spotify introduced audiobooks, audiobook service Audible first branched out into podcasts. Yet another streaming service is now entering the audiobook market. To complement its spoken word roster of podcasts and talk live radio streams, the live-streaming audio provider TuneIn, the world’s leading live-streaming audio service, has launched an … [Read more...] about TuneIn now has audiobooks after first introducing podcasts
Audible is now playing advertisements in audiobooks
Audible is launching something very controversial, and other audiobook providers might follow suit. The company is experimenting with a new system to play audio advertisements within audiobooks, Audible Originals and Podcasts. The advertisements will not show up for people with an Audible subscription, giving them access to one credit per month, which can be used to buy an … [Read more...] about Audible is now playing advertisements in audiobooks
What are the best Audiobook alternatives to Audible?
Audible is the most popular site in most of the Western world regarding audiobooks. They have a few different subscription tiers, but you pay them a monthly fee, and you get one credit, which can be redeemed to buy any audiobook on the platform. They have invested heavily into their Originals program, where paid subscriptions can access all of them for free, in addition to … [Read more...] about What are the best Audiobook alternatives to Audible?
How human voice artists inadvertently contributed to Apple and Spotify developing AI synthetic voice
The rapid advancement in the field of artificial intelligence has made it possible for computer-generated synthetic voices to accurately mimic the human voice, the same can also lead to human voice actors losing their job to such synthetic voices in the future. Ironically, while that's enough to make the voice artists feel insecure, they might have also contributed to the … [Read more...] about How human voice artists inadvertently contributed to Apple and Spotify developing AI synthetic voice
Spotify’s Purchase of Findaway cost them $123 million
Spotify had spent €117 million - around $123 million USD - for acquiring Findaway, an audiobook platform that has a copious amount of titles from major publishers and also an online system that pairs authors with engineers to create their own audiobooks. Spotify has been betting big on audiobooks even though it had started off as a music streaming service provider. It had also … [Read more...] about Spotify’s Purchase of Findaway cost them $123 million
Spotify confirms they are adding a Freemium Model to Audiobooks
Spotify has announced that they are going to be implementing a freemium model for audiobooks for people who are not a paid subscriber. So when the company eventually incorporates a million audiobook titles from their purchase of Findaway, you will be able to listen to them, while having ads play during playback. "We’ve moved from being a music discovery and playback service, … [Read more...] about Spotify confirms they are adding a Freemium Model to Audiobooks
Barnes and Noble is bringing audiobook support to their Nook App
Barnes and Noble has been selling audiobooks since 2014. They created the Nook Audiobooks app for Android and iOS. Their catalog of content came from Findaway, which powers many audiobook retailers catalogs, such as Google, Kobo and Scribd. Barnes and Noble has announced that they are discontinuing their audiobook app and integrating everything into the main Nook … [Read more...] about Barnes and Noble is bringing audiobook support to their Nook App
ebook revenues were down 12.3% in October 2021
During the early days of the pandemic, US book sales were going through the roof, and everyone thought that the format was going to make a comeback. In 2021, things started out just fine, but starting in the Spring, things have been in a constant state of decline. In the first ten months, ebook revenues were down 5.6% as compared to the first ten months of 2020. Year to date, … [Read more...] about ebook revenues were down 12.3% in October 2021
Podimo audiobook platform raises $78 million in Series B funding
Podimo, the Copenhagen based podcast and audiobook platform announced they have completed $78 million Series B funding. The company said they are going to utilize the fund in expanding its reach to more markets worldwide. The platform is currently active in parts of Europe which includes Denmark, Spain, Germany, and Norway along with the entire Latin American region. CEO … [Read more...] about Podimo audiobook platform raises $78 million in Series B funding