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Spotify will soon sell hardcover and paperback books through its app, in partnership with Bookshop.org
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- Title
- Spotify ventures into physical book sales, adds new audiobook features | TechCrunch
- Authors
- Lauren Forristal
- Published
- Feb 5 2026
- Word count
- 535 words
First it was Podcasts, then Audiobooks and now this. There is really something to be said about 'Stay in your lane' and 'Do one thing and do it well'. Spotify seems to have also added music videos to their offering, but at least that is still music related.
Then again I use the Audiobooks on Spotify, actually it told me I was a top 1% user, which is funny because it just so happens the time I have available to listen to Audiobooks each month exactly matches what they provide for free to premium Spotify accounts.
Thank you for mentioning this! I hadn't realized that I was eligible to remove audiobooks from my subscription for $2/month; I don't think I've ever listened to one before.
edit: As a note, it looks like they gate lossless audio for premium members, too ... but when I thought about it, I realized that my bluetooth headphones already add some pretty lossy AAC compression anyhow 😅
They were pretty sneaky about it when they did that, made the tier most people were using the +audiobooks tier and didn't tell you they made a lower cost option without Audiobooks. I wish I could opt out of even seeing Podcasts on the platform. No dice.
Same! I've attempted to use that once or twice, but I tend to prefer youtube for podcasts: often there'll be a filmed version of the crew, which makes for nicer second monitor content than the Spotify UI plastered over a screen.
Why? I enjoy the audiobook option a lot. I can just try a lot of audiobooks and if I don’t like them, switch to others
I do use the Audiobooks on Spotify, it's the Podcasts (because I generally don't like Podcasts) I don't wan to see (and I just want more control of my 'Home' screen in general)
Is this available to anyone? I have a duo premium, I dgaf about the audiobooks, but I don’t see how to get their basic plan instead. Following the instructions the only options are premium plans.
Try hitting cancel, they'll try to talk you out of it and I know that's where audible (at least used to) offer(s) its "silver" plan.
I don't have a sub anymore so I can't check
The docs I read said that it was only for folks who'd been subscribed to Spotify Premium before they dumped audiobooks onto it, unfortunately :|
Is there? Spotify is doing quite well, by all accounts, with this strategy.
The biggest issue for Spotify is that, believe it or not, even with the infamously small cut to the artist, they barely make a net profit on streaming music. The margins are that bad.
On the other hand, the margins for podcasts and audiobooks are pure profit. There's a one time cost to produce them, but no big music to pay out per-play.
...in the same week that stories broke about the death of the mass-market paperback?..
Mass market paperbacks are dead, but trade paperbacks live!
For the unaware: mass market paperbacks are the smaller, more cheaply made ones you'll see at grocery stores or airport news stands or whatever. Usually more pulpy paper.
Trade paperbacks are closer to a hardcover: similar dimensions, better paper quality and binding usually, but they have a lighter cardboard cover. Some books only release as trade paperbacks and not hardcover, especially nonfiction. e.g. a hardcover "For Dummies" book would be very unusual.
I don’t get it. I like music. I like books. I like podcasts. I like audiobooks. The things that make a particular app good for one thing do not make it good for the others. I never want podcasts or books in my music apps. Probably the primary reason I won’t be going back to Spotify. I am glad Apple Music exists, because it seems like nobody else wants to bother making a decent music app that doesn’t have unnecessary features.
Weirdly, YouTube Music works since it was carved off to focus on music. Amazon Music is also focused on music afaik. I can't wait for the launch of Spotify Music!
I still use Spotify, I just wish I could turn off podcasts, audiobooks, and everything else that is not music. Those little video clips that played for some songs/albums? It tooks months before they offered an option to disable that. I'm with you, I just want a good music app.
That said, Apple Music is not a good music app for me. Every time I have tried to go back to it, it has frustrated me in one way or another. I think I gave up on it for good when they started hiding buttons. I don't care for their radio shows either, but at least they're on their own tab and fairly easy to ignore.
I'm sort of impressed that they partnered with Bookshop.org. But I don't want books in a music app.
As someone with a limited data plan, I cannot stand the video creep in the mobile app. For goodness sake at least provide a "low power" or "metered data" mode if I don't want that stuff using my energy and data.
Or y'know just make a damn music app. Fortunately I absolutely love FinAmp.
The killer Apple Music feature for me is third party apps. I can agree that the stock app isn’t the best (although I don’t mind it). But there are so many third party apps that are fantastic. I have heard good things about Marvis. I am testing it out currently. My favorite is Albums, which focuses on listening to entire albums. Another interesting one is univershuffle. It just randomizes the entire Apple Music library. No fancy algorithm, just randomize everything (that one says it supports Spotify too).
If you ever want to try Apple Music again, check out the third party app scene.