The recent run of new offerings from audiobook platforms keeps on going. It's reached the stage where even TechCrunch (who are, as the name suggests, more a tech than a publishing outlet) are openly calling this an open battle for market share between Audible and Spotify. And are suggesting that Spotify's remarkable growth in the short time (four years) since they launched their audiobook offering has got Audible flustered.
ALLi News Editor Dan Holloway
It's not just Spotify's customers that have been growing consistently. Their prices have risen three times in as many years, and TechCrunch suggest what's happened is that has left fresh air underneath their $12.99 a month subscription. Audible's latest move is to use that space to create a substantially cheaper “Standard” plan in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Germany, and France. At $8.99 in the US, that's $4 below Spotify and $6 below its own Premium Plus plan.
What the Standard Plan Offers
The Standard plan is a complete rollout of an offering Audible has trialed in the UK and Australia where, the Audible press statement claims, “the plan was responsible for driving a strong double-digit percentage increase in new member signups compared with previous offerings.”
So what does that significant a price saving mean you lose out on as a listener? There seem to be two major differences. First is that the “as much as you like” offering is limited to a curated catalog (as opposed to Premium Plus subscribers who can listen to anything as much as they like from the much larger Plus Catalog).
And listeners only keep access to their one title a month for as long as they're subscribers (as opposed to Premium Plus, where you keep access to your one-a-month titles after your subscription ends).
Impact on Author Payouts
And more importantly for us, what does that mean for author payouts? From what I understand, in keeping with the fact you are essentially borrowing not buying, when someone uses their Standard credit to listen to a title, the payout for authors will be treated as if the book were in the Plus Catalog and so will be a share of the overall pool based on listening time (as opposed to Premium Plus credit use, which generates a fixed royalty more like an à la carte sale).
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