Spotify launches “narrated articles,” over 650 magazine stories from Rolling Stone, Vogue, and others
Spotify is expanding its audio catalog with a brand-new format called narrated articles. The new audio format brings stories from The Atlantic, Vogue, Wired, and other media outlets to Premium subscribers.
As of Tuesday, the Sweden-based audio streaming service provider is offering more than 650 long-form magazine articles to users with audiobook access.
The narrated articles are curated by Spotify’s in-house Audiobooks team from international publications, including Rolling Stone, The Atlantic, Vogue, Variety, Billboard, Vibe, GQ, Wired, Vanity Fair, and Pitchfork.
The stories are meant as a stepping stone for listeners who are intimidated by long listens. Spotify intends to open the door to longer-form listening, such as audiobooks.
“With Articles, we’re introducing long-form journalism in audio as a natural extension of the music, podcasts, and audiobooks people already come to Spotify for, focused on topics we know they love,” Colleen Prendergast, Licensing Lead at Spotify Audiobooks, says in a statement.
“By bringing shorter form content into the mix, we’re meeting audiences where they are to help build healthy listening habits, ultimately growing engagement with books over time,” she continues.
Spotify’s newest audio format not only offers the same listening experience as music, podcasts, and audiobooks. It also provides the means for media publishers and magazine partners to bring their stories directly to listeners.
Each narrated article is under two hours long and is available to Premium users’ monthly audiobooks allowance. Free users can purchase individual articles for $1.99 each.
As of writing, narrated articles are only available in English. Spotify doesn’t mention whether it plans to introduce other languages in the future. There’s also no news on whether other media outlets or magazines will join Spotify’s catalog of narrated articles and when.
Last week, Spotify and Universal Music Group announced recorded music and music publishing licensing agreements, enabling the audio streaming service to launch a new tool that lets fans create covers and remixes of their favorite songs from participating artists and songwriters.
“Solving hard problems for music is what Spotify does, and fan-made covers and remixes are next,” Alex Norström, Co-CEO of Spotify, said in a statement.
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