In a new audiobook streaming deal, Spotify has announced  that their Premium subscribers in the UK and Australia may access up to 15 hours of free audiobook content per month. It has been reported that all of the major publishing houses have agreed to this streaming deal and over 150,000 audiobooks are available as part of this program, which includes Australian titles.

While the growth in audiobooks is exciting, the promotion of audiobooks has value, and competition to the market dominance of Audible is welcome, we are highly aware of the impact of streaming and subscription models on creator income and want to ensure that the remuneration to authors is fair. While we appreciate the Spotify subscription does not offer unlimited hours of listening, we estimate there aren’t many average readers who would consume more than 15 hours of content in a month.

Alongside the UK Society of Authors and the US Authors Guild, the ASA is keen to understand this subscription model and we will update members if we learn more – stay tuned to our website and newsletter.