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Spotify's catalog of audiobooks just got a whole lot bigger. The streamer has signed a new deal with Ingram Content Group (ICG), who have the distribution rights for a lot of smaller publishers and independent publishers; according to the firm, "if you're reading a book, Ingram Content Group is probably behind it."
The deal is a significant one because some of the most interesting books published don't necessarily come from the industry giants. According to Duncan Bruce, director of audiobook partnerships and licensing at Spotify, the deal is "part of our goal to bring more independent authors to Spotify to get their books heard through our Audiobooks in Premium offering".
What books will you be able to listen to on Spotify now?
According to Publisher's Weekly, the new titles include "Ada Limón's self-narrated poetry collection The Hurting Kind... as well as Damon Galgut's Booker Prize–winning novel The Promise and Anne Berest's international bestseller The Postcard". Some of the publishers included in the new deal are Europa Editions, Milkweed Editions, G&D Media, Bard Press, and New Society Publishers.
Spotify has been in the audiobook business since 2022 when it first added audiobooks to its US catalog, rolling them out to the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand later the same year before bringing Canada on board in early 2023. There were 300,000 books available at launch and the catalog has been growing ever since.
According to Spotify, the biggest hits aren't brand new books but ones from the backlist, which is what publishers call older books that are still in print or available digitally. Nine of the 10 most-streamed audiobooks are backlist titles, and six of them were released more than five years ago.
As with Spotify's existing audiobook catalog, the new titles will be exclusive to Premium subscribers.