\n<\/p>\n
In Spotify\u2019s rapidly evolving quest to become the home of everything audio-related, the company announced<\/a> on Tuesday that it\u2019s bringing narrated long-form magazine articles to its app. The articles will be available to Premium subscribers as part of their 15 hours<\/a> of audiobook listening time per month. Free users can opt to purchase stand-alone articles for $1.99.<\/p>\n The streaming service said that, starting today, there will be over 650 long-form magazine articles (available in English only) from publications like Rolling Stone, The Atlantic, Vogue, Variety, Billboard, Vibe, GQ, Wired, Vanity Fair, and Pitchfork. Spotify says the articles were produced in-house by its audiobooks team and complement Spotify\u2019s existing audio offerings, like podcasts.<\/p>\n Spotify tells TechCrunch that the narrated\u00a0articles will use a mix of human and digital voice narration and that the portion of the articles using digital voice narration will be clearly labeled for users.<\/p>\n Beyond being another means of bringing monetizable audio to its app, Spotify believes the addition of articles could encourage users to try a different type of listening beyond music, which could ultimately lead them to try other forms of long-form listening, like its potentially more profitable audiobooks. <\/p>\n \u201cBy bringing shorter form content into the mix, we\u2019re meeting audiences where they are to help build healthy listening habits, ultimately growing engagement with books over time,\u201d noted Colleen Prendergast, licensing lead at Spotify Audiobooks, in a blog post<\/a> about the launch.<\/p>\n At present, Spotify offers audiobook listening hours to its paid subscribers as well as \u201ctop-up\u201d hours when the listening time runs out. There\u2019s also a $9.99 per month Audiobook Access plan<\/a> for Spotify\u2019s free music listeners, and a $11.99 per month Audiobooks+ plan<\/a> that doubles the listening hours.<\/p>\n The addition follows a deluge of news from the streamer in recent weeks. This saw the company take large leaps in the world of AI audio with new features like AI-generated podcasts<\/a>, similar to those you could create with a research app like Google\u2019s NotebookLM; AI-powered audiobook creation<\/a> for authors; support for AI covers<\/a> and remixes; and other, non-AI features, like fitness content<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission<\/a>. This doesn\u2019t affect our editorial independence.<\/em><\/p>\n