San Francisco, July 29 (SocialNews.XYZ) Music streaming platform Spotify has purchased Findaway, a platform that allows users to create, distribute, and monetise their own audiobooks, for 117 million euros (approx $119 million), the company revealed during a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing.
Findaway will provide the infrastructure for what will become the third pillar of Spotify's business. The streaming service first announced the acquisition last November, reports The Verge.
"We believe that audiobooks, in their many different forms, will be a massive opportunity," Spotify CEO Daniel Ek was quoted as saying to investors at a presentation last month.
"And just as we've done in podcasting, expect us to play to win," Ek added.
Audiobook functionality will arrive inside Spotify "quite imminently", he said this week.
Executives have indicated that the service will operate differently than the industry's dominant player, Amazon's Audible.
Audible subscribers pay $14.95 per month for one credit a month, with one credit worth one book.
It is unclear whether premium subscribers will have unlimited access to audiobooks, but content and ad business chief Dawn Ostroff indicated last month that there will be an ad-supported tier, the report said.
Ek is confident that audiobooks will deliver the kind of earnings investors are looking for, with profit margins north of 40 per cent.
Source: IANS
About Gopi
Gopi Adusumilli is a Programmer. He is the editor of SocialNews.XYZ and President of AGK Fire Inc.
He enjoys designing websites, developing mobile applications and publishing news articles on current events from various authenticated news sources.
When it comes to writing he likes to write about current world politics and Indian Movies. His future plans include developing SocialNews.XYZ into a News website that has no bias or judgment towards any.
He can be reached at gopi@socialnews.xyz