Music streaming app Spotify has introduced its audiobooks service in South Africa, adding spoken-word titles to its local offering.
According to a statement, the catalogue includes international bestsellers, new releases and genre titles, including “Shining Girls” by South African author Lauren Beukes, as well as “Heated Rivalry”, “Fourth Wing” and “You and Me on Vacation”.
Audiobooks are integrated into the existing Spotify app alongside music and podcasts, allowing users to listen across devices.
The service, notes the company, is positioned as an alternative for users who have limited time to read physical or digital books, enabling listening during activities such as commuting or exercise.
Spotify says the app automatically saves listening progress, allowing users to resume from where they last stopped.
“The rollout also expands distribution options for publishers and authors, providing access to audiences already using the platform for audio content and offering engagement data on listener behaviour.”
Spotify Premium Platinum subscribers receive 12 hours of audiobook listening per month as part of their subscription, with the option to purchase an additional 10 hours if required.
Audiobooks can be accessed via a dedicated audiobooks hub on the Spotify homepage, or by searching for specific titles. Users can browse recommendations, listen to previews, read reviews, follow authors and save titles to their libraries for online or offline access.
Additional features include page match, which allows users to switch between reading and listening by scanning a page from a physical book or e-book to continue the audio version from the corresponding point.
Spotify launched its audiobooks service in September 2022, starting with catalogue of over 300 000 titles for purchase in the US, then extending the service to the UK, Canada and Australia.
The audiobooks service is now available to Spotify users in South Africa.
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