Taylor Kerns / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Spotify is increasing past tune and podcasts with narrated mag articles throughout the app.
- Greater than 650 spoken tales from publishers like WIRED, The Atlantic, and Rolling Stone are actually to be had thru Spotify Audiobooks.
- Narrated articles reside in Spotify’s audiobook phase and are capped at beneath two hours every.
Spotify desires to change into greater than the app you open for playlists and podcasts. Now, it’s coming for mag studying time too.
The corporate has begun rolling out narrated long-form articles throughout the platform, including some other layer to its rising audiobook push. Starting these days, Spotify Audiobooks customers in supported markets can movement greater than 650 spoken mag tales from publications together with Rolling Stone, The Atlantic, Style, WIRED, Pitchfork, and Self-importance Honest.
Spotify is asking the function merely “Articles.” The purpose is to permit customers to hear journalism in the similar approach they already devour podcasts and audiobooks all the way through commutes, workout routines, or whilst multitasking, somewhat than sitting down and studying a 5,000-word function. They’re discovered within the audiobook phase, and every narrated article is not up to two hours lengthy.
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Top rate subscribers can get right of entry to the narrated items the usage of their per thirty days audiobook listening allowance, whilst unfastened customers should buy person articles for $2 every. Spotify says its in-house audiobook crew produces the content material, and a few tales use a mixture of human and AI-generated narration, TechCrunch stories. The corporate says portions narrated via AI will probably be obviously marked.
Spotify touts the function as a gateway to longer listening behavior. Colleen Prendergast, Spotify Audiobooks’ licensing lead, says shorter-form spoken content material may just assist customers steadily transfer into full-length books over the years.
The larger query is whether or not other people if truth be told need mag articles learn aloud inside of a tune app. Competitors like Audible and publications reminiscent of The Economist and Monetary Occasions have experimented with narrated journalism for years, however none have became it right into a breakout mainstream structure.
Nonetheless, Spotify obviously sees a possibility. The corporate is slowly morphing into an all-purpose audio platform, with AI-generated playlists, customized podcast gear, audiobook suggestions, and now narrated journalism. It’ll be as much as listeners — whether or not they embody spoken mag tales or forget about them altogether — to make a decision if this stays a tiny experiment or turns into Spotify’s subsequent giant content material vertical.
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