Tag: the Netherlands

Spotify Launches Audiobooks in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg—and Premium Listeners Get Instant Access

October 14, 2024

Since its launch just over a year ago, Spotify’s Audiobooks in Premium offering has helped introduce the format to an entirely new audience across the U.S., Canada, U.K., Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand. We’re seeing more listeners try audiobooks for the first time and embrace new and different books, with hundreds of thousands of unique titles streamed.

Today, we’re thrilled to announce that listeners in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg will now have access to audiobooks, which includes exciting work from local authors such as Gaël Faye, Maylis de Kerangal, Joël Dicker, Suzanne Vermeer, and Saskia Noort, to name a few.

Eligible Spotify Premium subscribers in those countries will be able to access more than 200,000 audiobook titles as part of their subscriptions. Any title not included in our Audiobooks in Premium offering can be purchased à la carte. Listeners in these regions without a Premium subscription can also purchase any title on Spotify.

 

 

In partnership with publishers from across these markets, Spotify, the world’s most popular audio streaming subscription service, has the potential to grow the size of the audiobook industry overall. We are enabling more listeners than ever to discover and engage with a rich catalog of titles, including in their own language, and paving the way for future innovation of the audiobook format.

“Spotify’s reach presents a significant opportunity to expand the audiobooks market across France, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg,” said Antoine Monin, Managing Director, Spotify Western Europe. “Since our launch in Western Europe 16 years ago, Spotify has evolved into a leading platform for music, podcasts, and now audiobooks. We are proud to spotlight this region’s rich literary tradition, with 15,000 French and 15,000 Dutch and Flemish titles joining our catalog, advancing our mission to empower audio creators globally and connect them with audiences both locally and internationally.”

One year of Audiobooks in Premium

While it’s still early days, the reaction to Audiobooks in Premium from authors, publishers, and listeners in available markets has been remarkable. On Spotify, we’ve seen user engagement increase among listeners who started an audiobook for the first time. In the U.S., these users spend an average of five additional hours on Spotify over their first two months after starting a book.

This launch opens up new opportunities for local authors and rights holders and helps create an additional revenue stream for the industry. With 28% of Spotify’s users located in Europe, we’ll continue investing in and growing the available audience and revenue pies for publishers and authors.

Spotify announced this latest expansion today in Paris with a panel featuring voices from across the industry: Laure Saget, CEO of Hachette’s Audiolib and Audiobook Commission President at the French Publishers Association, Liza Faja, Head of Lizzie, the audiobook imprint of Editis, Éric Marbeau, Head of Digital Distribution at Madrigall, parent company of Éditions Gallimard and Editions Flammarion, and Timothée Borne, CEO of the immersive audio content production company Blynd Media.

Eurovision 2024: Swiss Singer Nemo Took the Crown, but There’s More Talent To Celebrate

May 13, 2024

From Céline Dion to ABBA, the Eurovision Song Contest has served as a launchpad for a number of global stars over the years. Reaching a worldwide audience in the hundreds of millions, the annual competition is Europe’s biggest music event—and on Spotify, the hype and attention are reflected in our streaming data every year.

During the May 11 final in Malmö, Sweden, Switzerland’s Nemo was crowned the 2024 winner with “The Code.” The singer is the first non-binary artist to win Eurovision and wrote the genre-bending track to explain how they came to terms with their identity. In the 24 hours following the event, it was the most-streamed song of the competition on Spotify.

But the emerging talent that Eurovision introduces to the world goes far beyond the winning act. Between May 7 and May 12, discovery of Eurovision artists and music was in full swing on Spotify. Let’s take a look at some of this year’s top performers.

Reaching new legions of fans

Ireland’s entry, “Doomsday Blue,” from self-styled “Ouija pop” artist Bambie Thug emerged as a surprise hit during the final stage of the competition. On Spotify, the electro-goth song saw a whopping 950% increase in streams during the final week compared to the period leading up to the final. “Rim Tim Tagi Dim,” the 2024 runner-up from Croatia’s Baby Lasagna, experienced a similar boost, with streams up almost 730% during the final week.

As for the most-streamed song globally during the final week on Spotify, the Netherlands came out on top with “Europapa” by Joost, which received the highest listenership among users aged 18-24. Nemo’s “The Code” and Baby Lasagna’s “Rim Tim Tagi Dim” came in second and third, respectively, followed by Italy’s entry, “La Noia,” from Angelina Mango and Ukraine’s entry, “Teresa & Maria,” from Jerry Heil and alyona alyona.

Stories of continued success

On Spotify, Eurovision is clearly a cultural moment that unites fans across the globe through a shared love of music. Our platform is where fans go to dive deeper into an artist’s catalog, and for the contestants, there’s more to gain than just the Eurovision crown.

Take Swedish pop phenomenon and two-time Eurovision winner Loreen: Since she clinched her second win in 2023, streams of her entire discography have jumped over 600% on Spotify. On May 14, 2023, her entry “Tattoo” broke the then record for the most-streamed track in a day globally by a female Swedish artist. To date, the electropop anthem has been streamed nearly half a billion times on our platform.

Måneskin is another epic success story: Since their 2021 Eurovision victory, the Italian rock band has experienced a whopping 2,000% increase in global Spotify streams. The group has smashed a number of global records, and two of their songs—“I WANNA BE YOUR SLAVE” and “Beggin’”—have notched over 1 billion streams.

Keep the Eurovision party going with our 2024 playlist, featuring an exclusive editorial watchfeed.

Spotify’s Music + Talk Show Format is Expanding Across the Globe

August 18, 2021

Music + Talk gif

Last October, Spotify launched a pioneering listening experience called Music + Talk that brings together music and spoken-word content. The unique format weaves full songs and talk commentary together​ into one show.

Through Anchor, Spotify has also made Music + Talk an accessible format that anyone can use to create these unique shows. Anchor’s suite of tools is already available to users in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand. 

Starting today, we’re expanding the experience to millions more creators and listeners around the world and sharing the tool with 15 new markets across Europe, Latin America, and Asia. 

Here’s everything you need to know.

Where in the world is Music + Talk?

With this expansion, Japan, India, the Philippines, Indonesia, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, and Colombia will have access to the blended audio experience.

Creators in these markets will now have access to the “Music” tool in Anchor, where they can incorporate full songs from Spotify’s library of 70 million tracks into their spoken-word audio creations. And in return, listeners can interact directly with the music within an episode by liking, saving, and sharing with each track as they would in any playlist. 

The shows will be available to Premium and Free listeners. Spotify Premium users will hear full tracks as part of these shows, while Free users will hear 30-second previews of each song. Shows can be listened to globally wherever Spotify is available.

Our catalog of Music + Talk Spotify Originals will also get a boost across a number of markets as new shows from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, India, Japan, and the Philippines join our library today. Plus, there’s more to come from all the markets included in our latest launch. These shows will explore the many facets of music, from the stories and inspiration behind a song to the listening trends of the modern age, and they will offer an opportunity for artists to engage listeners in a unique way.

More ways to get inspired

Along with the market expansion, Spotify will begin offering a variety of new educational and inspirational resources for creators interested in using Music + Talk.

Today also marks the launch of an exciting new Spotify Original called Music + Talk: Unlocked, which will explore creative uses of the Music + Talk format—from guided runs to music trivia and more. Listeners and creators can find more best-in-class shows in the Music + Talk hub in the Spotify app.

Since we rolled out Music + Talk last year, we’ve learned from the needs and behaviors of listeners, as we always do with new products. Savvy streamers will notice that we’ve implemented small tweaks to improve the listening experience and reflect those needs: clearer visual distinction between the music and talk segments of an episode and music previews on episode pages.

We can’t wait to see new creativity and stories from around the globe as more markets make the audio storytelling features their own. Check out Anchor’s blog post and creator landing page for more information on how to get started with Music + Talk.