Spotify Expands in India with Audiobook Launch Featuring 3.5 Lakh Titles
Spotify has expanded its offerings beyond music and podcasts in India with launch of audiobooks with a catalog of over 3.5 lakh titles including 7,000 audiobooks in Indian languages. Its Audiobooks+ add-on costs INR 199 a month and offers you 15 hours of listening.
In India, Spotify has introduced audiobooks, integrating books into the service alongside music and podcasts. The Audiobooks+ add-on costs INR 199 per month. This plan is available to users on both the Free and Premium tiers and provides 15 hours of listening time per month across the entire repertoire. Individual titles can be purchased or additional hours can be added for those who require more time.
More than 350,000 English titles and almost 7,000 audiobooks in Indian languages like Hindi, Tamil, Bengali, Marathi, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam are available in the Indian catalogue at launch. Among these are Godaan by Premchand, Ponniyin Selvan by Kalki, Kabuliwala by Tagore, Gunahon Ka Devta by Dharamvir Bharati, and Mahabharata Unravelled by Ami Ganatra.
Spotify Transforming Storytelling Experience
Users have the option to listen to a single book for all of their monthly hours, sample chapters from multiple books at once, or split their time across multiple titles. According to Amarjit Singh Batra, managing director of India and general manager for South Asia, Middle East and Africa at Spotify, listening has always been just as important as reading when it comes to storytelling in India. With the addition of audiobooks to Spotify, the company is aiming to provide consumers with the same level of accessibility that they now experience with music and podcasts.
Batra mentioned that the company's main goal is to assist Indian listeners in finding new books to read, and with Spotify for Authors, the company aims to assist Indian authors, particularly those who are self-published or have independent voices, in reaching new audiences in India and beyond. The platform's audiobook finding feature is identical to its music discovery feature. Through tailored suggestions and customised audiobook charts that cater to each listener's preferences, it covers a wide range of genres like fantasy, suspense, romance, self-help, and mystery.
Spotify Streamlines Podcast
About fifteen people have lost their jobs as a result of Spotify's 3% reduction in its podcast workforce. The company is reorganising its operations in an effort to boost team collaboration and efficiency. Earlier this week, employees at Spotify Studios and The Ringer got laid off. Instead of portraying the change as a cost-cutting measure, the corporation is promoting it as an initiative to improve speed, coordination, and overall performance.
Most of the layoffs occurred in Spotify's podcast division, most notably at The Ringer, a platform covering pop culture and sports that the company bought for approximately $250 million in 2020. Editorial and project positions were among those impacted, indicating that content operations have been prioritising tasks more closely. Various modifications to the programming have also resulted from the reorganisation at Spotify. As part of the change, a New York-centric sports podcast called "New York, New York With John Jastremski" was cancelled.
