They frame it as though it’s for user content, more likely it’s to train AI, but in fact it gives them the right to do almost anything they want - up to (but not including) stealing the content outright.
Except Spotify is one of the only hopes against Audible. Audible gives terrible deals to authors, if you sell your audiobook exclusively through audible they take a 60% cut of the sale, and if you sell through multiple audiobook stores they take 75%.
And that’s just the official numbers, according to this source they actually pay out even less than that. The average author’s cut for an exclusive title is only 21%, and for a non-audible exclusive is only 13%.
Large established authors get significantly better deals, but all the smaller authors desperately need audiobook rivals like spotify to be a viable alternative to Audible’s monopoly death grip on the industry. So it’s not as simple as “boycott spotify”, spotify or someone else badly needs to succeed in getting a meaningful slice of the market.
Thankfully there are alternatives out there, and we should be using them.
When discussions like this happen I think it’s good to actually suggest alternatives!
I don’t listen to audiobooks, but a lot of people I know use libro.fm
Also your local library probably partners with Hoopla and/or Libby which allows you to borrow audiobooks straight to your PC/phone!
