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Spotify doesn’t limit its audio ambitions to podcasts and music. Today, the company announced that it is continuing its audiobook experiments with the release of nine new audiobooks available exclusively in the app. As first reported by The Hollywood Reporter, among the works, which are all in the public domain, are David Dobrik recounting Mary Shelley Frankenstein; Forest Whitaker reading the memoir of Frederick Douglass An Account of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave; and Hilary Swank telling Kate Chopin Awakening. He also publishes an accompanying audio series called Sitting with the classics on Spotify, a show in which Harvard professor Glenda Carpio explains the stories and storytelling for a modern audience.
While this is Spotify’s biggest audiobook effort yet, it’s not its first attempt. The company first partnered with JK Rowling’s Wizarding World to publish Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in audio form. The chapters, which came out weekly, featured celebrities like Daniel Radcliffe, Dakota Fanning, Claudia Kim and David Beckham. (The show no longer appears to be listed on Spotify, but we’ve requested clarification and will update if we have any news.)
The decision to sue audiobooks is an interesting one, especially since the company is starting with public domain works, which means Spotify doesn’t have to pay to fire them. It’s a low-risk investment for the company, which it might need as some analysts start advising clients to sell their stocks because they don’t see podcasting efforts producing high returns.
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