Spotify Releases 51 Audiobooks From Bloomsbury’s Popular 33 ⅓ Series

Spotify aims to bring compelling audiobooks to as many consumers as possible, and we’re eager to give fans even more options as they discover their next great listens. For our latest chapter, Spotify Audiobooks—our in-house audiobook publishing imprint—is releasing 51 audiobooks from Bloomsbury’s 33 ⅓ series, a collection of short books about popular music.

The 33 ⅓ series has been devoured by fans, musicians, and scholars alike since launching in 2003. It dives deep into legendary artists, albums, and genres, counting Celine Dion’s Let’s Talk About Love, The Rolling Stones’ Some Girls, Madvillain’s Madvillainy, and Britney Spears’s Blackout among its entries. Music lovers on Spotify will also recognize 33 ⅓, as we teamed up with Bloomsbury in 2021 for the 33 ⅓ Podcast, which was hosted by renowned record producer and DJ Prince Paul.

“Following on from the success of Spotify’s 33 ⅓ Podcast, audiobooks are a natural next step for the books in the series,” said Leah Babb-Rosenfeld, Editorial Director and 33 ⅓ editor for Bloomsbury. “The format—including the newest enhancement of the ‘follow along’ feature and exclusive commentary from Spotify’s music editors—will be creative, exciting, and the first of its kind, much like the series itself. With its acclaimed status among music fans and now with over 200 titles, I’ve seen the series grow and transform over the years that I’ve worked on it, not just in size, but in scope, diversity, and audience. We value opportunities to continue to reach new music-loving readers.”

Continuing to enhance Spotify’s audiobooks experience

In addition to these new titles, several from the series—including Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly, Pink Floyd’s The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, and Aretha Franklin’s Amazing Grace—will connect music to the audiobooks experience for the first time with Follow-Along. Follow-Along is an immersive experience we’ve been testing that allows users to see additional media, including illustrations, photos, graphics, and music, as they listen to an audiobook. When a song or album is mentioned in an audiobook from the series, the song link or album will appear in the Now Playing View window so listeners can easily save to their library.

These materials are also available in the “extras” section and allow users to easily find and listen to that content later. Additionally, there will be videos from Spotify’s music editors that highlight the significance of the album featured in a specific book. Users can access these companion editorial videos from the “Try This Book” audiobook page.

“This has been a dream project and a prime example of how Spotify is evolving the audiobook space,” said Henna Silvennoinen, Manager of Audiobooks Licensing for Spotify. “It is an honor to combine forces with Bloomsbury, a heavyweight in the publishing industry, to introduce this iconic, decades-long book series to a whole new audience of listeners on Spotify.”

This launch marks the beginning of cross-functional collaboration between Spotify’s music and audiobooks teams, further demonstrating how Spotify is the best place for fans to connect on an even deeper level to the music and artists that they love.

Explore Bloomsbury’s 33 ⅓ series on Spotify’s Audiobooks Hub.