A gripping thriller during the daily commute, an inspiring memoir on a morning walk or a thought-provoking philosophy book before bedtime – Spotify is bringing stories closer to listeners in India with its latest launch of audiobooks. The platform is expanding beyond music and podcasts, creating a single destination where users can enjoy all three forms of audio entertainment.
Listening to stories has long been part of India’s cultural heritage, from the oral traditions of ancient epics and bedtime tales shared by grandparents to the growing popularity of podcasts among today’s audiences. Spotify’s audiobook launch builds on this tradition, introducing a new way to experience books. Through its Audiobooks+ plan, listeners can access 15 hours of audiobook content every month, with the flexibility to purchase additional listening hours or individual titles. The catalogue features an extensive selection of literary classics, popular bestsellers and fresh discoveries, all available alongside music and podcasts on the Spotify app.
Amarjit Singh Batra, GM South Asia, Middle East, Africa & MD India at Spotify said: “Storytelling in India has always been as much about listening as reading. By bringing audiobooks to Spotify, we are making books as accessible as the music and podcasts our listeners already enjoy. Our focus is on helping listeners in India discover their next book, and helping Indian authors, including independent and self-published voices through Spotify for Authors, reach new audiences in India and around the world.”
The world is listening too. Spotify’s monthly audiobook listeners are up around 40% year on year, listening hours have grown more than 30%, and in the US, 18 to 34 year olds make up 57% of audiobook listeners on the platform. Spotify now carries more than 8,00,000 audiobooks from nearly 300 publishers and over 50,000 authors worldwide.
What listeners in India get
- A catalogue built for India: Choose from more than 3,50,000 English titles and almost 7,000 Indian-language audiobooks at launch, from global bestsellers to Indian voices. Audiences can delve into rich regional narratives across Hindi, Tamil, Bengali, Marathi, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam. The collection spans literary masterpieces such as Premchand’s Godaan, Kalki’s Ponniyin Selvan, and Tagore’s Kabuliwala, along with celebrated works including Dharamvir Bharati’s Gunahon Ka Devta and Ami Ganatra’s Mahabharata Unravelled.
- Pricing that gives you freedom to explore: For ₹199 a month, Audiobooks+ gives you 15 hours of listening across the full catalogue, whether you’re on Free or Premium. How you spend those hours is entirely up to you: move between several books at once, sample a few chapters, explore an unfamiliar genre, or start a new title whenever inspiration strikes. Need more time? Top up your hours or buy individual titles outright. Start listening today with Audiobooks+, right in your Spotify app, or head to the hub to learn more.
- Discovery that knows your taste: Your next favourite book finds you the way your next favourite artist does, through personalized recommendations and audiobook charts shaped by what you love. Thrillers, mysteries, romance, self-help, fantasy, there’s a story for every mood.
- Page Match, so you never lose your place: Scan the ISBN of the book in your hands and Spotify picks up the audiobook from the exact page, so the story keeps going when you have to get going. More than one million people have used Page Match globally since February.
- Listen offline: Download audiobooks and listen without a connection, just like your music and podcasts.
- Set a Sleep Timer: Drift off to a story, and it’ll stop playing when you do.
Spotify for Authors comes to India
With this launch, Spotify for Authors is available to writers in India. Self-published and independent authors can distribute their audiobooks on Spotify, view insights on their listeners worldwide, and access marketing tools including redemption codes. Partnerships are non-exclusive, and authors retain the freedom to distribute their work on other platforms.
Also Read: Hitachi Vantara Brings Enterprise Data and AI Closer with New VSP One Enhancements
How to get started:
- Update to the latest version of the Spotify app and open the Audiobooks hub, or search for any title
- Choose a book and add Audiobooks+
- Manage your plan at [spotify.com/account or at http://spotify.com/audiobooks]
- Press play
