Spotify’s Challenge With Audiobooks Is One That We All Face Everyday

Last year Spotify acquired audio book platform Findaway and began discussing how to expand its audio book offering. Unfortunately, some critics are worried that it might make an already confusing interface nearly unusable. Those fears are reasonable. Yet the problem is solvable and should be a top priority for Spotify to fix.

The world of audio books urgently needs another option (aside from Libro.fm) to help listeners avoid the anti-competitive existing monopoly platforms of Apple or Audible. A key barrier seems to be the fear that adding another category of content might overwhelm existing Spotify users. This is a familiar problem in a world filled with content. Finding anything is harder than ever. It can be managed with smarter information architecture and a greater focus on usability.

If Spotify is smart, they will invest in audio books by inviting authors to create “Spotify Exclusive” audio book content to make their offerings on the platform unique. Then they will hire a small army of the smartest usability experts and developers to help them figure out how to create the best user experience for all of this content.