You might see your most-read books in your Spotify Unwrapped later this year.
The streaming service has moved beyond just streaming songs—that we know. You can listen to podcasts and audiobooks wherever you are these days, but now, you can purchase physical books through Spotify.
Already, there are 700,000 book titles available to Premium members, but in February, Spotify launched Page Match, a service that allows listeners to move between their audiobooks and their printed or e-book editions. Since launching that, those who have used the service stream an average of 55% more audiobook hours each week than other listeners and 62% of Page Matched audiobook titles on Spotify are books users had never streamed previously.
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But physical books are the go-to format for most readers, accounting for nearly 73% of trade publishing revenue last year, according to Spotify earlier this year. That’s why the move to physical book selling is the next logical step, the service says.
“We believe the future of reading should fit into how people actually live, whether that means listening on the go, reading at home, or moving between the two. For listeners, these updates add more ways to find your next book, pick back up where you left off, and switch between listening and reading when it fits the moment,” the company wrote in a press release.
If you haven’t checked out Spotify’s Page Match service, here’s how it works:
- Open the Spotify mobile app and find the title you’re reading.
- Tap the Page Match button.
- Use your camera to scan a page in your physical book.
- Spotify finds your spot in the audiobook.
- Ready to return to print? Scan again to find the right place in the text.
You can also check out Spotify editors’ picks for the best book of the century here, in case you’re interested.
According to Spotify, offering physical book sales will only create more opportunities for discovery and sustained engagement for authors and publishers since it has more than 751 million monthly active users globally. “By connecting digital discovery with physical book sales, we’re giving listeners more ways to experience the stories they love while supporting authors and independent bookstores,” it says.
To offer this service, Spotify has partnered with Bookshop.org, an organization that connects readers to independent bookshops. Those in the U.S. and U.K. can purchase books in the Spotify app on Android right now, while users on iOS will be able to purchase books starting next week.
When in the app, you’ll see a button labeled “Get a copy for your bookshelf,” which will direct you to Bookshop’s website, which manages pricing, inventory and shipping.
Readers on Reddit were split on the new service, with some saying Bookshop.org has been a good steward of indie bookstores, while others say it’s a dystopian and grim look into the future, where big media conglomerates control the distribution of the arts.
Like they said, it’s currently only available on the Android Spotify app. I was curious if it was available on Windows PC app, so I tried buying Heated Rivalry, but no dice. I went to the audiobook and clicked the three dots near the play button to open a dropdown list. At the bottom is “Buy book,” which took me to a checkout on my browser—to buy the audiobook.
For now, I think I’ll just walk down to my local bookshop.
