Spotify Buys Findaway

[RBC]

Finally, Spotify should be getting in audiobooks! They're acquiring Findaway which included Findaway Voices etc.

https://techcrunch.com/2021/11/11/spotify-expands-into-audiobooks-with-acquisition-of-findaway/

“With this acquisition, the plan is to accelerate into the audiobooks space by expanding our platform,” said Nir Zicherman, Spotify’s head of Audiobooks. He explained that today, Spotify users tend to go to other platforms to access audiobooks, and it wants to enable that consumption to take place with Spotify’s app itself. Initially, that may see Spotify users leveraging the company’s new Open Access Platform technology (OAP) to authenticate with existing credentials to access audiobooks from Findaway and other audiobook partners, like Storytel.

More broadly, however, OAP offers the flexibility for publishers to determine how their content is sold that works with their own business models, meaning they may introduce a variety of new ways consumers could unlock and listen to audiobook content on Spotify going forward.

The first integrations of OAP are expected to arrive early next year, said Spotify.''

So hopefully this means there will be 381 Million of Spotify users having easy access to audiobooks (even easier than Audible cuz there is no need to download separate app).

Doesn't mean it will make a huge dent in income for indies, but anyway, an upward movement should happen.


Interesting prognosis too:

''According to research estimates, the audiobook industry is expected to grow from $3.3 billion as of 2020 to $15 billion by 2027, which is why Spotify believes Findaway is worth the investment''

[PJ Post]

Spotify pays less than a cent per stream: about $0.003 to $0.0084 per stream, with an average payout of $0.004. We'll have to wait and see, but I'm not sure this is good news.

[RBC]

Spotify pays less than a cent per stream: about $0.003 to $0.0084 per stream, with an average payout of $0.004. We'll have to wait and see, but I'm not sure this is good news.

Well, that's for music, this should be a completely different pay structure. Music streaming is volume business, audiobooks isn't as much.

I doubt anyone would put audiobooks there with that pay otherwise.

[notthatamanda]

But Spotify is buying Findaway. Whether or not we put our audiobooks on Spotify is a factor of how Spotify decides to handle it. They could decide to leave Findaway as it, run it and add Spotify as box to click and leave us the flexibility to decide based on how much they are paying if we want our audiobooks on Spotify or not. Or they could say they own Findaway now, this is how it is, take it or leave it.

If the Chirp/Findaway/Bookbubs are still free apply for them while you can. Not to be bossy. But they are free so you can't lose if you get one, I don't think.

[PJ Post]

Spotify pays less than a cent per stream: about $0.003 to $0.0084 per stream, with an average payout of $0.004. We'll have to wait and see, but I'm not sure this is good news.

Well, that's for music, this should be a completely different pay structure. Music streaming is volume business, audiobooks isn't as much.

I doubt anyone would put audiobooks there with that pay otherwise.

I'm not suggesting audio books will be that cheap, but the music payout does indicate a business tendency/philosophy/preference. If they can find a way to exploit authors in service of an improved stock valuation, I have no doubt they will.

[RBC]

Spotify pays less than a cent per stream: about $0.003 to $0.0084 per stream, with an average payout of $0.004. We'll have to wait and see, but I'm not sure this is good news.

Well, that's for music, this should be a completely different pay structure. Music streaming is volume business, audiobooks isn't as much.

I doubt anyone would put audiobooks there with that pay otherwise.

I'm not suggesting audio books will be that cheap, but the music payout does indicate a business tendency/philosophy/preference. If they can find a way to exploit authors in service of an improved stock valuation, I have no doubt they will.

I'm sure they will go for profit but audiobooks and songs are way way too different. One music song stream is not worth much, artists overinflate those because they don't understand it. One audiobook stream is worth more and is a bigger investment. It's a bit like comparing apples to oranges. Thus I'm more optimistic here

[notthatamanda]

From the email from Findaway re: Spotify. No real info on how it will affect authors with audiobooks on Findaway, if we can opt in or not or what the payments will be.

Spotify Audiobooks
Spotify plans to launch audiobooks, but it's still early and the exact details have not yet been announced.

Spotify currently has no plans to offer audiobooks as a singular full-catalog subscription. Just as the Spotify podcast offering differs from the Spotify music offering, the audiobook offering will pursue models that specifically fit listeners' and authors' needs. More details will come closer to a launch.

[RBC]

From the email from Findaway re: Spotify. No real info on how it will affect authors with audiobooks on Findaway, if we can opt in or not or what the payments will be.

Spotify Audiobooks
Spotify plans to launch audiobooks, but it's still early and the exact details have not yet been announced.

Spotify currently has no plans to offer audiobooks as a singular full-catalog subscription. Just as the Spotify podcast offering differs from the Spotify music offering, the audiobook offering will pursue models that specifically fit listeners' and authors' needs. More details will come closer to a launch.

Well that sounds like good news. They'd get more profit selling one-off audiobooks so it makes sense not to have subscription.

But we'll see how it plays out of course. Thanks for share!

[notthatamanda]

You're welcome. I'll be over here being cynical though. 

[JackT]

Has anyone signed up for the new Spotify for Authors, which Findaway is now pushing? I can't find any information about pen names and whether you need separate accounts for each one. I don't want to sign up and then find all the audiobooks lumped together.

[Bill Hiatt]

Sadly, I haven't. However, that sounds like a question Findaway support should be able to answer pretty easily.

[alhawke]

Has anyone signed up for the new Spotify for Authors, which Findaway is now pushing? I can't find any information about pen names and whether you need separate accounts for each one. I don't want to sign up and then find all the audiobooks lumped together.

I did. But I ran into a problem with my publishing company name not showing up. They had to fix it.

I don't really even understand how Spotify for Authors is going to serve us? Is this their new platform where we load audios? Do we now publish here instead of via Findaway?

I only use one pen name. But when they messed up the publishing title, they were very friendly in fixing. So I'd just email them direct and check on pen names, JackT.

[Bill Hiatt]

Has anyone signed up for the new Spotify for Authors, which Findaway is now pushing? I can't find any information about pen names and whether you need separate accounts for each one. I don't want to sign up and then find all the audiobooks lumped together.

I did. But I ran into a problem with my publishing company name not showing up. They had to fix it.

I don't really even understand how Spotify for Authors is going to serve us? Is this their new platform where we load audios? Do we now publish here instead of via Findaway?

I only use one pen name. But when they messed up the publishing title, they were very friendly in fixing. So I'd just email them direct and check on pen names, JackT.

Spotify for Authors is positioned as a way for publishers to get into audio in a new way. Self pubbers would still use Findaway, making Spotify for Authors another distribution mechanism rather than a complete substitute.

Users can get access to Spotify for Authors through their Findaway Voices account. Visit findawayvoices.com to get started.

[alhawke]

I did some more searching. Apparently Findaway is being transitioned to "InAudio". InAudio will be in charge of distribution everywhere except Spotify. But InAudio is just a title and is still a part of Spotify.  I think I'll have to publish my new titles to Spotify for Authors separately. But I'm unsure how all this will work out.

So far, Spotify gives a very good royalty rate. But I know there's fears in the industry with what's happened to the music industry royalty rates. Only time will tell how the merger will work out for audio--hopefully to Indie benefit.

[The Bass Bagwhan]

Spotify is separating its actual on-Spotify audiobook presentation from the rest of Findaway's outlets, and at the same time segregating the audiobooks from the music streaming delivery process. It's putting audiobooks and music into two separate baskets, if you like, and also separating both from all the other outlets -- in the process using the opportunity to ebrand Findaway to InAudio.
I think it's little more than a housekeeping exercise to streamline its various services, and we might see some more dedicated promotion tools for audiobooks with Spotify for Authors getting its own guernsey.
Existing titles are all automatically switched across I believe (You've made think to check that) and in the future the upload/publish thing is the same as Findaway except you do it separately for Spotify for Audio.
It's probably a good thing with perhaps Spotify getting even more aggressive in stealing marketshare from Audible. 

[Hopscotch]

'Nobody wants a robot to read them a story!' The creatives and academics rejecting AI - at work and at home
Guardian   3 Jun 2025

April Doty, an audiobook narrator, is "concerned about the number of books that are being 'read' by machines...'I don't know anybody who wants a robot to read them a story, but I am concerned that it is going to ruin the experience to the point where people don't want to subscribe to audiobook platforms any more...AI models can't 'narrate', she says....'Narrators don't just read words; they sense and express the feelings beneath the words. AI can never do this job because it requires decades of experience in being a human being.'...

"Emily M Bender, professor of linguistics at the University of Washington, [says]...'I'm not interested in reading something that nobody wrote...I read because I want to understand how somebody sees something, and there?s no "somebody" inside the synthetic text-extruding machines.' It's just a collage made from lots of different people's words, she says...

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jun/03/creatives-academics-rejecting-ai-at-home-work?CMP=share_btn_url

[Bill Hiatt]

Emily's sentiments are pretty much mine.

[Post-Doctorate D]

Emily's sentiments are pretty much mine.

Yep.  Like I've said before, if you can't be bothered to write your story, why should I bother to read it?

[alhawke]

This is why it'd be nice if there was a way to label AI. But I can't think how this can be done. As a consumer, I rather buy human. And I think a lot of readers and listeners would too.

[Lorri Moulton]

I put the narrator's name on my audiobooks, which should show that they're narrated by a human. 

[Post-Doctorate D]

I put the narrator's name on my audiobooks, which should show that they're narrated by a human. 

But there'd be nothing to stop someone from giving an AI narrator a name and putting that on their audiobook.

[Lorri Moulton]

I guess they "could" do that, but I'm with ACX so I doubt that's going to happen.  If someone/anyone else would do royalty share, we'd probably switch.  (Splitting sales is one of the challenges of working with a real person, but well worth it IMHO.) 

[Jeff Tanyard]

April Doty, an audiobook narrator, is "concerned about the number of books that are being 'read' by machines...

Lol... Of course she is.  It's her ox being gored.

[TimothyEllis]

April Doty, an audiobook narrator, is "concerned about the number of books that are being 'read' by machines...

Lol... Of course she is.  It's her ox being gored.

I don't know why.

The authors using AI narration can't afford a narrator like her, and probably already had the book rejected by the likes of Tantor and Podium.

There's no loss for the narrators in that.

Laura Burrows has been down on Bot audio as well, but no-one but big sellers could afford her anyway. She's full time on the spicy end of Romance, and most Romance authors would not be able to afford her.

[Bill Hiatt]

But for less expensive narrators, AI does seem to have had a negative impact.

[TimothyEllis]

But for less expensive narrators, AI does seem to have had a negative impact.

I'm not sure it matters.

The moment an investment is involved to get it made, it takes too long to get it breaking even, let along making anything.

And the less known a narrator is, the slower it is to get sales in the first place.

A $100pfh narrator isn't all that much help in the general equation, because their name is less weight in the equation, and the ROI is just as slow happening anyway.

But I guess if it comes down to paying $800 or nothing, with not much different in quality, the nothing wins.

For me though, that $800 wasn't worth investing in anyway.

I did do a $1000 test with a newbie narrator, and it was a disaster. It was replaced when Tantor bought the rights to the series, and it paid back that initial test with the advance. But it showed me just doing them with the bottom end of the talent range was not worth the investment.

[Lorri Moulton]

Is anyone selling their audiobooks as CDs?  Physical books are really making a comeback on crowdfunding platforms, so I was wondering if anyone is selling physical audiobooks? 

I'm royalty share, so not something I can do until those expire...but a few have, so I thought I'd ask.

[alhawke]

Is anyone selling their audiobooks as CDs?  Physical books are really making a comeback on crowdfunding platforms, so I was wondering if anyone is selling physical audiobooks? 
I'm royalty share, so not something I can do until those expire...but a few have, so I thought I'd ask.

I've seen it done with publishers. I don't know how you'd go about burning CDs otherwise. Maybe if an Indie worked with a producer like Spoken Realms or something? 

[Bill Hiatt]

Cd Baby still exists, but it doesn't support audiobooks very well.

I tried various searches for indie CD audiobooks and got lots of results without the cd part.

[Lorri Moulton]

Thank you both.  Most of my searches end up somewhere between 2009 and 2015.  After that, it's all focused on digital audiobooks.

However, why couldn't we do physical audiobooks?  I know I could make a cassette of one, so there has to be a way to make a CD, right?

Maybe the platforms have convinced us we need the digital, but why not have options?  I know there are some readers/listeners who would like to have a physical copy for gifts, etc.

Anyway, please let me know if anyone sees anything.  I would appreciate it! 

[Bill Hiatt]

You could burn your own CDs. CD burners are no longer like standard equipment, but I'm sure they can still be purchased as USB port addons.

Making a professional looking cover is probably more difficult--you'd need a high quality color printer for that.

Then there' shipping costs to consider. It's physically possible to have your own manufacturing process, but maybe not lucrative.

[TimothyEllis]

you'd need a high quality color printer for that.

A standard colour laser set to highest quality will do that.

The problem is cutting them out professionally. You need an old style guillotine and good lining up skills.

[Lorri Moulton]

I'm thinking more for crowdfunding campaigns.  It would be fun to have an audiobook tier with REAL audiobooks like we have REAL paperbacks and hardcovers. 

[Bill Hiatt]

If anyone could make something like that work, it would be you. You seem to have a good sense of how to appeal to your fans.

That said, is it possible that paperbacks and hardcovers have a nostalgic appeal that CD audiobooks lack? The paper fans like to talk about reading a physical book as a sensual experience--the way the paper feels, smells, etc. Is there a comparable sensory experience for CDs? Maybe.

[Lorri Moulton]

Thank you, Bill.

There is a lot to be said for the physical appeal of the books, but I believe it's also about ownership over access.  Do we really own digital audiobooks?  I mean, we can save them on our computers, etc. but a physical CD seems more like owning DVDs for movies or TV shows.

The more options we offer, the more our 'true fans' can collect our stories and enjoy them.

[Post-Doctorate D]

The problem is cutting them out professionally. You need an old style guillotine and good lining up skills.

Or use crop marks and an X-acto (or similar) knife with a straight edge.

Alternatively, if anyone is doing large quantities, it may be worthwhile to get pricing from a local printer who could print and cut the CD case inserts.

[alhawke]

I think you should contact producers, Lorri. I have a few I can contact if you want to PM me. It's an interesting request and I've only seen audiobook CDs done via Tantor (if my memory's correct). But I know some producers you could contact that might be willing to create it for you if commisioned; or point you in the right direction.

It's more complicated than you'd think. Not only do you have to find a CD burner, you have to find a way to print covers for CDs. That's not standard stuff right now.

Interestingly, a while back I asked about boxed sets cause I wanted to create and actual cardboard boxed set of 3 paperbacks. I gave up on the idea, but later found out that it's technically possible through Bookvault. I checked Bookvualt and they don't burn CDs, as far as I know.

If persistent enough, I think you can find someone to do it. It used to be the way they were sold.

[Post-Doctorate D]

It's more complicated than you'd think. Not only do you have to find a CD burner, you have to find a way to print covers for CDs. That's not standard stuff right now.

CD burners are still readily available.  The hardest part will be finding a good one.

There may still be services that will burn CDs.  I had to format some artwork for a customer that was having CDs made for his music.  The service he used burned the CDs and also printed the inserts for the CD case.  I don't remember the name of the service but I can look the next time I'm in the office to see if I have any information on it and if it's still around.  It may be as it was within the past couple years.  I don't remember their minimums.

But even if such services are gone, the CD covers/inserts aren't hard.  Most printing services should be able to print them.  They don't require any specialized printing equipment.  And, of course, one could go the DIY route as well.

[Bill Hiatt]

I think you should contact producers, Lorri. I have a few I can contact if you want to PM me. It's an interesting request and I've only seen audiobook CDs done via Tantor (if my memory's correct). But I know some producers you could contact that might be willing to create it for you if commisioned; or point you in the right direction.

It's more complicated than you'd think. Not only do you have to find a CD burner, you have to find a way to print covers for CDs. That's not standard stuff right now.

Interestingly, a while back I asked about boxed sets cause I wanted to create and actual cardboard boxed set of 3 paperbacks. I gave up on the idea, but later found out that it's technically possible through Bookvault. I checked Bookvualt and they don't burn CDs, as far as I know.

If persistent enough, I think you can find someone to do it. It used to be the way they were sold.

This made me look up Bookvault. They don't appear to do CDs, just as you said, but the box set idea is interesting. I'll file that for future reference, though I doubt I'd sell many. I assume Amazon would be doing something like that if it thought there was money in it.