Blog: book publishing

As Spotify rolls out music-like features for audiobooks, the company still finds itself at odds with the music business, courting one publishing industry while ruffling the feathers of another. So far, Spotify’s publisher dilemma is only intensifying, making it all the more interesting that the company is introducing audiobook countdown pages — effectively album pre-saves but for audiobooks — in the midst of it all.

In the music industry, three major labels generate the lion’s share of revenue: Universal, Sony, and Warner. In the book publishing industry, the “big five” publishers dominate: Penguin Random House, Hachette, Macmillan, Simon & Schuster, and HarperCollins.