Spotify enters audiobook industry

Spotify has launched an audiobook service for US users.

Beginning today, users can find over 300,000 audiobooks on the streaming service, alongside music and podcasts as a section in their library, in search, and in their algorithmically curated recommendations on the home tab.

Audiobooks will show up with a lock icon on the play button, signaling that they need to be purchased in order to listen.

Users who discover audiobooks in the Spotify app will be directed to purchase them on a web page. Upon returning to the app, the book will be automatically saved in their library and available to listen to whenever they want.

Audiobooks can be downloaded for offline listening, and Spotify is including an automatic bookmarking feature so listeners can pick up where they left off.

Other features include a playback speed control and a rating feature, which will publicly display the aggregate rating of the audiobook by Spotify listeners.

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek had previously signaled a desire for the audio streaming company to enter into the audiobook market at the company’s Investor Day presentation in June.

The company intends to continue iterating on its audiobook offering as it plans for launches outside the US at unannounced dates in the future.