Spotify Acquires FindAway To Become Music World's One-stop Shop

Spotify continues to penetrate the audio business worldwide. (photo: doc. unsplash)

JAKARTA – Spotify has been expanding its presence in the audio space over the past few years with its forays into podcasting. Now Spotify has also announced that it will acquire audiobook company FindAway. In fact, Spotify Hi-Fi is coming later this year, or very soon.

Spotify is a super popular music streaming service that many people love. Spotify is popular because it offers both free and paid subscriptions and has a large social platform. With the addition of podcasts (even videos), Spotify has become a one-stop shop for audio for many.

Well, Spotify's goal to take over the audio industry is to take a step forward. The company announced that it would acquire audiobook distributor FindAway for an undisclosed amount.

On the surface, that might not seem like a big deal. Great, Spotify will be offering audiobooks to subscribers. But it's so much more than that, with the acquisition, Spotify is now a place where content creators can start creating audiobooks.

FindAway Voices, as per the official FindAway website, "gives authors access to the world's largest network of audiobook sellers and everything they need to create high-quality audiobooks." In addition to helping content creators, FindAway is also a major publisher and distributor of audiobooks.

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While neither company has commented on the future implications of the deal, Spotify, which owns one of the world's largest audiobook distributors, gives the streaming service a big advantage.

In addition to making it easier to create, produce, and publish audiobooks, Spotify could theoretically ask for lower prices for itself because it has a supply chain.

However, the announcement came as no surprise. Spotify has wanted to be a one-stop shop for all things audio for a while. The company that acquired the audiobook distributor brought Spotify closer than ever to that goal.

Armed with music, podcasts, and audiobooks, Spotify now offers almost anything one could want when it comes to audio. With all the social features, algorithmic playlists, podcasts, autoplay, and now audiobooks under their belt, Spotify will be a true force to be reckoned with.

Spotify is already offering a small number of audiobooks to users today, and it will be interesting to see if Spotify will raise the price of audiobooks or if it will count towards the standard premium price.