Come spring, users will be able to buy physical books from the streaming giant, Spotify. On Thursday (February 5), the platform announced that it would begin selling physical books through a partnership with online retailer Bookshop.org. This marks an unexpected expansion beyond its business of audiobooks.
According to Spotify, the new physical book purchasing functionality will be released soon to users of its service within the UK and US via a partnership with Bookshop.org, which will handle all aspects of book pricing, inventory and fulfillment. With this move, Spotify is doubling down on new innovative features to enhance its competitive edge against other large technology companies such as Apple and Amazon.
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For purchases made inside its App, Spotify will receive an affiliate fee. The company's decision comes as physical book sales have become slow and more users are turning to e-books and other online sources.
Page Match tool
Spotify announced it will launch "Page Match," a tool that allows users to scan a page from a physical book or e-book in the Spotify App, according to a report by Reuters. This tool lets them jump to the corresponding spot in the audiobook.
Page Match will be available at launch for most English-language titles. The full rollout to all audiobook users is planned for February 23. Additionally, Spotify has raised the price of its monthly premium subscription by $1, making it $12.99 in the US, Estonia and Latvia, reported Reuters.
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"It's powered by a mix of Spotify's own and third-party computer vision and image-scanning technologies," the company said. Users can also switch from audio back to text using 'Scan to Read'. This is useful for commuters, students, or anyone managing both formats.
Other upgrades
Page Match is available for premium subscribers and supports most English-language titles. A wider rollout is planned for late February. Spotify states that the feature currently works with over 5,00,000 titles.
Another update, Audiobook Recaps, provides listeners with brief summaries of the last section they heard. This feature was previously limited to iOS and will be available on Android this spring.
