Spotify expands into audiobooks with acquisition of Findaway – TechCrunch

In an effort to broaden past music, Spotify has been investing a whole lot of thousands and thousands to construct out its podcasts enterprise. Now the corporate has set its sights on one other type of audio, with at the moment’s acquisition of digital audiobook distributor Findaway.

Spotify declined to share the monetary phrases of the deal, which is anticipated to shut within the fourth quarter of 2021, topic to regulatory assessment and approval.

Based in 2004, Findaway’s core focus has been on bringing extra audiobooks to listeners worldwide.

It at the moment operates a set of manufacturers and merchandise led by its giant audiobook distribution enterprise that connects content material creators with reseller companions like Apple, Google, Scribd, Audible, Nook, Rakuten Kobo, Chirp, Storytel (a Spotify associate), Overdrive, Audiobooks.com and dozens of different international manufacturers.

Different manufacturers underneath the Findaway umbrella embody Findaway Voices, which connects authors with skilled narrators; Audioworks, which sees the corporate producing audio for high publishers; Playaway, which brings preloaded audiobook merchandise to libraries and colleges; Orange Sky Audio, which works to carry a extra diversified audio catalog to listeners; and AudioEngine, which gives instruments and expertise that permit builders to combine a broad catalog of audiobooks into their very own platforms. 

Spotify is bringing in Findaway’s full workforce of round 150, it says, after which plans to construct on Findaway’s present investments within the audio trade. It additionally plans to carry expanded entry to audiobooks to Spotify’s 381 million month-to-month lively customers.

“With this acquisition, the plan is to speed up into the audiobooks house by increasing our platform,” stated Nir Zicherman, Spotify’s head of Audiobooks. He defined that at the moment, Spotify customers are likely to go to different platforms to entry audiobooks, and it needs to allow that consumption to happen with Spotify’s app itself. Initially, which will see Spotify customers leveraging the corporate’s new Open Entry Platform expertise (OAP) to authenticate with present credentials to entry audiobooks from Findaway and different audiobook companions, like Storytel.

Extra broadly, nevertheless, OAP gives the flexibleness for publishers to find out how their content material is bought that works with their very own enterprise fashions, that means they might introduce quite a lot of new methods shoppers may unlock and take heed to audiobook content material on Spotify going ahead.

The primary integrations of OAP are anticipated to reach early subsequent yr, stated Spotify.

“As an trade, we predict there’s large potential and progress forward for audiobooks,” Zicherman famous. “Combining Spotify and Findaway and their superb workforce and their superb tech, the concept is to appreciate that future quicker than we ever may as separate corporations.”

In response to analysis estimates, the audiobook trade is anticipated to develop from $3.3 billion as of 2020 to $15 billion by 2027, which is why Spotify believes Findaway is definitely worth the funding. The corporate additionally famous that it sees the Findaway deal as the start of its ambitions within the audiobooks house, so it could select to broaden the workforce additional sooner or later.

Spotify plans to have Findaway proceed to run its varied manufacturers and companies a lot because it does at the moment, with the identical employees and companions, working from its Cleveland-area headquarters. This strategy is just like how Spotify dealt with its acquisition of podcast creation platform Anchor, which continued to supply distribution to different platforms — together with Spotify’s competitors.

The corporate has signaled its curiosity in audiobooks forward of at the moment’s announcement. In January, it started testing the format with a handful of classics, like “Frankenstein,” “Jane Eyre,” “Persuasion” and others, narrated by celebs. It had additionally beforehand provided the primary “Harry Potter” e-book with chapters narrated by stars like Daniel Radcliffe, David Beckham and Dakota Fanning.

And in Could, it introduced a partnership with audiobooks platform Storytel to permit Spotify customers to entry their audiobooks by means of Spotify’s app, additionally powered by OAP. (The corporate wouldn’t say if the cope with Findaway grew out of comparable partnership discussions, however that appears a probable risk.)

As we speak’s acquisition doesn’t sign a shift away from Spotify’s dedication to podcasts so as to chase a brand new space of audio funding, we’re informed.

“Podcasts will stay a crucial a part of our focus as a enterprise,” stated Zicherman. “That is an enlargement into a brand new content material kind that we all know our shoppers need, and, in lots of circumstances, are already listening to. We wish to carry that on platform to allow them to get pleasure from it on Spotify, as effectively.”