(Credit: Spotify)
Starting this spring in the US and UK, you'll be able to purchase physical books through Spotify thanks to a partnership with Bookshop.org.
Spotify has supported audiobooks since 2022, but it says a large chunk of readers still prefer physical copies. The company’s new experiment aims to help readers discover books and read them in the format they prefer, while also supporting bookshops and authors.
Bookshop.org is an online marketplace founded in 2020 as an alternative to Amazon. It connects readers with local booksellers, and when you make a purchase through Bookshop, a portion of the sale goes to the bookstores.
Once the partnership takes effect this spring, Spotify users will see a button in audiobook pages labeled as “Add to your bookshelf at home.” Clicking the button will redirect you to Bookshop, which manages the checkout and shipping, TechCrunch reports.
“We are excited to see the impact Spotify’s scale will have for local bookstores,” said Andy Hunter, founder and CEO of Bookshop.org. “By meeting readers where they are and linking to Bookshop.org, Spotify is financially supporting indie booksellers with each purchase.”
In addition to this partnership, Spotify also introduced Page Match, a feature that allows you to switch easily between audiobooks and their physical or ebook versions. If you start reading a book in print and want to continue in audio, you can open Spotify, tap the Scan to Listen button to scan the page with your phone, and jump straight to the same point in the audiobook. The reverse also works with the Scan to Read button.
After being leaked last month, Page Match will roll out to Spotify’s Android and iOS apps toward the end of February. At launch, it will support most of the app’s 500,000 English-language titles, TechCrunch says.
Earlier this week, Spotify also updated its lyrics feature by enabling offline access, adding worldwide translation support, and introducing a new lyric preview in the Now Playing window.
These changes follow Spotify’s decision to raise subscription plan prices. Starting this month, the Premium plan will cost $12.99 per month, while the Duo and Family plans will cost $18.99 and $21.99 per month, respectively.