Spotify acquires Findaway in big step toward audiobook distribution

Following its minor dabbling in the world of audiobooks, streaming audio company Spotify has announced its acquisition of Findaway, a digital audiobook distribution company. Spotify, which initially focused on music streaming, has made a huge expansion into podcasting over recent years, leading to rumors about a potential future move into audiobooks.

Chubo – my masterpiece/Shutterstock

Spotify has already dabbled in audiobooks, though it isn’t a distributor at this point. Earlier this summer, for example, the company released nine audiobooks for classic works on its platform, including titles like “Frankenstein” and “Great Expectations.” The company had also previously released an audio collection of celebrities reading Harry Potter one chapter at a time.

In an announcement on Thursday, Spotify revealed that it has acquired Findaway, saying that this business decision represents “taking another step into furthering” its effort to “build the future of audio.” Spotify says it has penned a definitive agreement to buy Findaway, enabling it to enter the audiobook market in a big way and round out its audio offerings.

Findaway boasts the largest library of distributed audiobooks. Spotify plans to “supercharge” the distribution company by adding its own technology, including ones related to content discovery and personalization, in addition to developing unspecified innovations for things ranging from creator tools to delivering audiobooks to customers.

This acquisition makes it clear that Spotify aims to not only offer music and podcasts, but also audiobooks that have largely been relegated to platforms like Amazon’s Audible. The audiobook market is expected to grow in popularity in the same way podcasting has seen a resurgence.

It’s unclear when Spotify plans to launch its audiobook platform, but the company suggested as part of its announcement that its Findaway acquisition will enable it to “quickly scale” its new library.