Spotify has launched audiobooks in India, adding the format to its existing music and podcast offering. At launch, its catalogue includes more than 3.5 lakh English titles and nearly 7,000 audiobooks in Indian languages, the company shared. 

The Indian-language catalogue covers Hindi, Tamil, Bengali, Marathi, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam. It includes titles such as Premchand’s Godaan, Kalki’s Ponniyin Selvan, Rabindranath Tagore’s Kabuliwala, Dharamvir Bharati’s Gunahon Ka Devta and Ami Ganatra’s Mahabharata Unravelled.

Access to the catalogue is available through Audiobooks+, through a monthly subscription and includes 15 hours of listening. The plan is open to both free and Premium users. Listeners can buy additional hours or purchase individual titles.

The launch also brings Spotify for Authors to India. Independent and self-published writers can distribute their audiobooks on the platform, access listener data and use marketing tools such as redemption codes. The distribution arrangement is non-exclusive, so authors can continue to make their work available elsewhere.

Other features include personalised recommendations, audiobook charts, offline downloads and a sleep timer. Page Match allows users to scan the ISBN of a print book and pick up the corresponding audiobook from the same page. Spotify said more than one million people globally have used the feature since February.

Spotify is also reporting growth in its audiobook business globally.

According to the company, monthly audiobook listeners have risen by around 40% year on year, while listening hours are up more than 30%. In the US, people aged 18 to 34 make up 57% of its audiobook listeners. Its global catalogue has more than 8 lakh titles from nearly 300 publishers and over 50,000 authors.

Amarjit Singh Batra, GM South Asia, Middle East, Africa & MD India, Spotify, said, “Storytelling in India has always been as much about listening as reading. By bringing audiobooks to Spotify, we are making books as accessible as the music and podcasts our listeners already enjoy. Our focus is on helping listeners in India discover their next book, and helping Indian authors, including independent and self-published voices through Spotify for Authors, reach new audiences in India and around the world.”