Spotify’s Audiobook Rollout Sparks Fears Of Unfair Payment For Authors—But Some Welcome Competition To Audible

Topline

Some authors and literary agents fear they won’t see much in royalties thanks to Spotify’s offer of 15 hours of audiobooks per month to paid subscribers, particularly since publishers reportedly made deals with Spotify without consulting authors, but some hope the streaming platform will provide healthy competition to Amazon’s Audible, which dominates the audiobook market.

Key Facts

Chief Critics

Society of Authors, a British union for writers, illustrators and translators, released a statement Tuesday stating it is “deeply concerned” that publishers made deals with Spotify even though “authors have not been consulted on licence or payment terms” and agents were not consulted about giving Spotify permission to use their titles. The organization expressed concerns Spotify—which has long been criticized by musical artists, who say their incomes have been harmed by the streaming era—would also result in authors making less money. The group claims streaming for books could be more dangerous than streaming music, since music may be streamed many times while an audiobook would likely be listened to only once. Literary agent Imogen Pelham, who represents British author Yara Rodrigues Fowler, told The Guardian her client was not consulted before her book appeared on Spotify and criticized the “total obscurity of the deal. It’s impossible to understand what the benefit is supposed to be for authors.” Jonny Geller, an agent at Curtis Brown Literary Agency, said he and his colleagues also were not approached before their clients’ work was put on Spotify, expressing fears authors will face the “disastrous path the music industry went down.” Otegha Uwagba, a Sunday Times bestselling author, posted on X she is “personally not thrilled that you can now stream all of my books for free via Spotify” and worries streaming will harm book sales. American author Kim Scott told the New York Times audiobook streaming on Spotify could “open a Pandora’s Box” and said the pay-as-you-listen model may devalue the work required to write a book.

Contra

Some authors and publishers expressed hopes Spotify’s entrance into the audiobook market would introduce healthy competition and prevent Audible from continuing to dominate. Literary agent Madeleine Milburn told The Bookseller “market competition is always good and it means more people will discover our authors.” Kate Nash, also a literary agent, told The Bookseller audiobooks are a growing component of the book industry and Spotify’s entrance into the market may help boost audiobook consumption as a portion of authors’ incomes. Australian author Michael Robotham told Australia’s ABC News that competition in the audiobook market will be “good for readers and listeners,” but expressed hopes Spotify will keep the cap at 15 hours per month because unlimited listening may diminish royalty payments.

Tangent

Audible has previously angered frustrated authors for what they say has been unfair payment. In 2020, more than 12,000 authors signed a letter backed by both the United States’ Authors Guild and the United Kingdom’s Society of Authors demanding Audible change a policy that allowed subscribers to return or exchange an audiobook within 365 days, the cost of which would be deducted from the author’s royalties. The letter stated authors had seen anywhere between “15% to as much as 50% or more of lost sales over time.” Audible announced in response it would pay authors royalties for titles returned more than seven days after purchase, though some writers felt the window of time should be even shorter. New York Times bestseller Brandon Sanderson also condemned Audible’s payment practices and stated in March he would partner with Spotify. Sanderson said Audible treats authors “very poorly” and alleged the company pays authors even less than brick-and-mortar bookstores. Rebecca Giblin, an Australian Research Council Future Fellow at Melbourne Law School, said Audible’s dominance of the audiobook market “allows them to do things that they wouldn’t be able to do if they didn’t have that market power, like its royalty structure that she says pays higher rates to authors that agree to be exclusive with Audible.

Key Background

Spotify made more than 300,000 audiobook titles available for purchase for U.S. consumers in September 2022. The streaming platform has spent several years attempting to expand beyond music to win subscribers and ad sales after facing stiff competition from Apple Music. Spotify previously launched podcasts in 2015 and has spent huge sums to win some of the world’s biggest podcasters. The platform announced an exclusive deal to host Joe Rogan’s The Joe Rogan Experience in 2020, which reportedly cost more than $200 million. Prince Harry and Meghan also signed a deal reportedly worth $20 million with Spotify in 2020, though they parted ways with the platform in 2023.

Further Reading

Spotify’s new audiobook streaming could have ‘devastating effect’, says Society of Authors (The Guardian)

Agents concerned about ‘lack of detail’ on Spotify streaming deals (The Bookseller)

Spotify Gave Subscribers Music and Podcasts. Next: Audiobooks. (New York Times)