Spotify Chief Financial Officer Paul Vogel said they are in the process of launching their audiobook business soon. However, as The Hollywood Reporter stated, it is going to be a trial and test phase initially before the company commits full-time to audiobooks.
“It’s going to come out reasonably soon, but I would say don’t expect that to be the last change or improvement we make on the audiobooks offering,” Paul Vogel said.
The streaming service provider had earlier stated they are pooling in resources to diversify into the hot new audiobook and podcasting business. The company has been offering podcast services since the fall of 2018. Vogel said it is expecting its podcast business to turn around in about two years’ time at the most, something that the company had also mentioned during its investor’s day earlier in June. Vogel also said they are banking on its podcast services to grow as well as retain its user base.
Meanwhile, Vogel also said its plans to sell tickets have been a huge success so far. The company ventured into selling tickets to listeners via a website dedicated to the same. The website which was launched just on August 10 offers tickets for only a chosen group of artists at the moment. Apart from serving as a new revenue stream for the company, Vogel also said its ticketing business led to users spending more time on Spotify to listen to that artist. Vogel however didn’t divulge how much the company has been making out of its ticket-selling business.
“The artists have been thrilled with the pre-sales that we’ve had and our ability to target and sell tickets to their super fans and get that audience engaged,” Vogel said. “What we’ve also seen is when people buy tickets through Spotify, they actually then tend to listen to more of that artist on Spotify as well.”
The company earlier stated in July its paying subscriber base has been growing at a fast pace which has also exceeded its own expectations. Similarly, its revenue from other sources such as advertising business has also been growing even though the market has been witnessing a downturn in general. However, the company said it will stop hiring new recruits by 25 percent in view of the uncertainty prevailing the world over.
With a keen interest in tech, I make it a point to keep myself updated on the latest developments in technology and gadgets. That includes smartphones or tablet devices but stretches to even AI and self-driven automobiles, the latter being my latest fad. Besides writing, I like watching videos, reading, listening to music, or experimenting with different recipes. The motion picture is another aspect that interests me a lot, and I'll likely make a film sometime in the future.
