The global Music streaming platform Spotify launched its non-English audiobook offering in France, Belgium and the Netherlands last October. A new proposition for audio playback enthusiasts and an additional opportunity for professionals.
In the French, Belgian and Dutch territories, Spotify offers nearly 15,000 tracks listenable in French for a total of 200,000 mainly in English, but also Dutch and Flemish. A catalog fully available to Spotify premium account holders; the platform now has around 7 million subscribers. It joins other offers such as Audible, Apple and Nextory.
Tastes to link
Spotify audiobooks are accessible via the tabs at the top of the page after “All”, “Music” and “Podcasts”, the Internet user can access “Audiobooks”. By scrolling through the Spotify page, the musical playlists follow one another according to genre, then very quickly arrives the “audio Books for you” category with titles as varied as Captives (Fides), Les Miserables (Théléme editions), Timothy's epic (Phone), The Queen of Nothing (Stanké), Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass (Saga Egmont), An extraordinary woman (Stanké) and The time snatcher (Sarrazin editions). No targeted genre, the choice is wide in order to attract all audiences.
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By clicking on one of the titles, three sections appear: “about”, “chapters” and “more of this kind” to try to retain the customer and lead them to other listenings likely to please them.
Pour CaptivesSpotify offers around twenty thrillers including The soul seeker of Steve Laflamme (Campus Media), Autopsy of an imperfect crime of Jacques Cote (Kampus Media) and Close your eyes d’Antoine Renand (Lizzie) in the top three choices. In the category “more of this genre” the fantasy novel Tea for ghosts of Chris Vuklisevic (Listen to read, Gallimard audio) on the other hand sees Spotify offering titles of white literature such as The frozen woman d’Annie Ernaux (Listen to reading, Gallimard audio), Come back to you of Léonor de Récondo (Audiolib), or We will be better tomorrow of Tatiana de Rosnay (Lizzie).
From podcast to audiobook
A journalist from the editorial staff of Weekly Books who listens to podcasts with engaged themes like A podcast of your own or Fracasis suggested audiobooks covering similar topics with titles of Salome Saqué or Mona Chollet. These links between podcasts and audiobooks are supported with the category “Popular among listeners of…”. The themes highlighted also vary according to the seasons with Christmas, cooking and film adaptations at the moment.
To download this document, you must first purchase the corresponding item.
Chapter by chapter
As for the service itself, each chapter is listed so you can find how to read it. Spotify launches them one by one, and not the entire book on the same audio track. The “sleep timer” option of 5 minutes to 1 hour, or until the end of the chapter after a period of inactivity is also offered. The listener can also advance or rewind their reading by 15 seconds as they wish. The speed can be modified, reduced to 50% or, on the contrary, increased up to +350%.
Books can be placed in a digital library on the application or in a playlist. Spotify's Jam option also includes audiobooks for reading additions from other Spotify Premium users, to encourage collegial and family listening, such as in the car.
At the end of the last chapter and credits, Spotify simply returns to the beginning of the book with no recommendations for further reading. You must return to the “More of this genre” tab to be offered works related to your last reading.
Pour Bouchraa habitual consumer of audio books, Spotify's French offering is still quite meager. “It’s easier to find classic books than newer titles. » She also deplores an avalanche of personal development in recommendations. The indicated listening time can also be “a little dizzying” for neophytes afraid of the idea of devoting 11 hours to listening to a book.
A beneficial arrival
The arrival of Spotify in the French-speaking audiobook landscape broadens the readership of audiobook publishing houses. This is what we see, for example Liza Fajadirected by Lizzie (Edited) : “It’s beneficial for the audiobook and for usshe says. This is an evolution of the market and turnover as a whole. » Among the publishing house's very varied and general public catalog, more than 1,000 titles are integrated into Spotify, almost all of its references.
“This encourages us to increase our offering thanks to this development. We can also have access to knowledge about customers: age and location of listeners. The curation of themes is also very interesting. » Real added value for professional market research. Lizzie, in continuous growth since its launch in 2018, went from 200 titles in the first years to 300 in 2024 and plans to publish 350 audiobooks in 2025.
In the end, everyone finds what they want. The arrival of Spotify allows publishers and authors to rely on an ever-increasing and varied offering of audiobook platforms. For its part, Spotify, already the world leader in music streaming, continues to develop while increasing the number of its partners.
