Spotify is about to test whether a music app can also move paper and ink. Beginning this spring, the streaming giant will let paying subscribers in the US and UK buy print books directly inside its app, in a new partnership with online retailer Bookshop.org. The move builds on Spotify's push into audiobooks, which began in 2022. Under the deal, Bookshop.org will handle the traditional retail work: setting prices, managing stock, and shipping orders, with Spotify earning an affiliate commission on sales, per the Wall Street Journal. Bookshop.org shares 80% of its profits with independent bookstores, a selling point as Spotify looks to "expand the audience for books," said Owen Smith, Spotify's global head of audiobooks.
The expansion puts Spotify more squarely in competition with Amazon, which dominates both digital and physical book sales and owns audiobook leader Audible. Publishers have largely backed Spotify's audiobook foray, seeing it as a counterweight to Amazon and a path to younger listeners. HarperCollins parent News Corp has credited Spotify with helping lift its audiobook revenue. Industry data shows digital audiobook sales nearing $1 billion and still growing modestly, while print sales have been flat.
But Bookshop.org CEO Andy Hunter says more readers now want physical and audio versions of the same book so they can read at home and listen during commutes. With that in mind, Spotify is also rolling out a tool called Page Match, which lets users line up an audiobook with a specific page of a printed or e-book copy, just by snapping a photo. Smith said more than half of Spotify's premium customers, granted a monthly allotment of listening hours, are already trying audiobooks. According to the Verge, Spotify plans to add a button to its audiobook section, prompting users to "get a copy for your bookshelf." This will take users directly to Bookshop.org's checkout page.
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