Alongside tools for AI-generated podcasts, Spotify on Thursday introduced a new, ElevenLabs-powered AI tool for self-publishing audiobooks within the Spotify for Authors platform. The company said at its Investor Day event that the feature will launch in beta this June on an invite-only basis, initially with support for the English language only. The AI-powered audiobook generation won’t bind authors to an exclusive contract, meaning they are free to publish their generated audiobooks anywhere. The news builds on Spotify’s previous partnership with ElevenLabs, which allowed writers to submit audiobooks created on the voice AI startup’s platform to Spotify. The audio streaming platform also already had a partnership with Google Play Books to allow for digitally narrated content. However, it may have wanted authors to access newer voice models that sound more expressive and human-like, like those offered by ElevenLabs. Notably, ElevenLabs had released its own self-publishing platform for authors in 2025. Spotify is also expanding its “Spotify for Authors” platform to support 10 more languages, including French, Canadian French, German, Dutch, Latin American Spanish, Swedish, Finnish, Icelandic, Danish, and Norwegian. In addition, the company will expand its Audiobook+ plans this year to allow for higher listening limits and will add new options for students and families in the future. (Spotify didn’t specify any pricing or usage details for these plans in its announcement, however.) To date, Spotify has clocked in over a million Audiobook+ subscriptions, and it is on track to generate $100 million in annualized recurring revenue for the platform. At the event, the company introduced a new way for users to ask questions using natural language for audiobook discovery. This summer, Spotify will also expand a feature that allows users to create prompt-based playlists for podcasts and music to include audiobooks, it said. Spotify has increased its focus on audiobooks heavily in the last few years and has managed to build its catalog to 700,000 titles. The company brought the program to international markets, made an investment in non-English titles, enabled in-app purchases, and released audiobook charts. This year, it also started a program for authors to sell physical books in the U.S. and the U.K. Through these initiatives, the company has managed to bump up listening hours by 60% year-on-year, the company claims. Spotify also said that more than half of its audiobook listeners started in the last year.
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