Oct 07, 2026 5:16pm IST
Spotify In India Jumps Onto The Book Bandwagon, Brings 7000 Audiobooks To Platform
With the announcement of audiobooks coming to Spotify in India on November 12 this year as part of the platform’s global rollout, it’s pertinent to know what this means for Indian authors, seeking new global audiences. At the same time, the new announced features – like ‘Page Match,’ which allows subscribers to jump from book/ebook to audiobook via a page scan – sounds interesting in theory.
Variety India spoke to Duncan Bruce, Director of Partnerships and Licensing for Audiobooks At Spotify, to understand how this rollout affects listeners in India. He mentions, “In India, access will be made available via Audiobooks+, which lets users purchase a monthly allowance of listening hours as an add-on subscription. Alternatively, listeners can also buy individual titles through direct sales.”
On being pressed for Indian market-specific numbers, Bruce reveals, “In India, listeners will have access to almost 7,000 titles across 10 Indian languages, and this will continue to grow as we bring new partners onboard. This sits alongside the English-language catalog. Overall, we will cover over 120 languages, and we're working with most publishers around the world.”
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Explaining the tech behind ‘Page Match’, Bruce shares, “With our latest update, readers can also use page numbers to jump in and out of a book. After a scan, the app shows the page number based on their listening position.” While English-language titles offer the starting point, he adds that they will “continue to expand the growing Indian-language catalog over a period of time.”
Duncan Bruce also mentions that ‘Spotify for Authors,’ the dedicated self-service portal for authors, will offer analytics and insights on their global audience. “In new markets, including India, it's also how local self-published authors can upload titles to Spotify,” he notes.
Admitting that it will be too soon for audiobook data to make it to this year’s ‘Wrapped,’ Duncan says they “look forward to including a full year’s worth of data for 2027.”
He affirms, “India is one of Spotify's most important markets. Our mission is to bring more books to more people, in even more countries. We're uniquely placed to make books easier to access, discover and build lasting habits around, whether that's listening, reading or both.”
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