December 2024 News Roundup
We open December’s News Roundup with the best of the best-of lists followed by a thoughtful take on audiobook naysayers and an uplifting account of vision-impaired creators. A host of new services were announced by Amazon, Spotify, Spines and ElevenLabs. Consumption of audiobooks is up in China, EU drops antitrust probe and the UK debates the fairness of the VAT imposed on audiobooks. In closing, there is no better time than now, as we embark on a new year, to benefit from an audiobook on the virtues of the Japanese concept of Ikigai.
General News
AudioFile Magazine's Best Audiobooks of 2024
The list, selected annually by AudioFile editors, recognizes audiobooks in nine categories. [Source: audiofilemagazine.com]
Opinion: Stop audiobook hate
The arguments commonly used against audiobooks fundamentally misunderstand what they really are. [Source: thebatt.com]
Young vision-impaired creators launch audiobook on life transitions
Twenty-one young people have created an uplifting account of how to navigate key life transitions when living with a vision impairment. [Source: bath.ac.uk]
The business of audiobooks
Amazon Music Adds Monthly Audible Title Access to Subscription Service
The integration allows individual plan subscribers and family plan primary account holders to listen to one audiobook of any length each month. [Source: publishersweekly.com]
Bloomsbury Opens an Audiobook Distribution Agreement With Spotify
Bloomsbury titles are to go to the Spotify ‘Audiobooks in Premium’ offering, and to a-la-carte availability for those without subscriptions. [Source: publishingperspectives.com]
Audiobook consumption jumps in China
Consumers listened to an average of 8.8 audiobooks last year in China, surpassing figures reported in the U.S. [Source: publishersweekly.com]
Spotify tests a video feature for audiobooks as it ramps up video expansion
Spotify is enhancing the audiobook experience for premium users through three new experiments: video clips, author pages, and the ability to add visuals that appear while users listen. [Source: techcrunch.com]
Spotify launches Analytics Platform for Audiobook Publishers, Authors
The platform, modeled after Spotify's existing tools for musicians and podcast creators, aims to provide publishers and authors with data-driven insights about their audiobook performance. [Source: publishersweekly.com]
EU drops Apple audiobook antitrust probe
The closure of this investigation does not mean that Apple’s actions are compliant with EU competition rules. [Source: siliconrepublic.com]
UK Labour keeping VAT on audiobooks branded 'persecution of blind people'
Campaigners say it is discriminatory to have no VAT on paper-based books but for the tax to be levied on audiobooks. [Source: express.co.uk]
FEED YOUR EARPODS
Persian audiobook of Ikigai released
Centered around the Japanese concept of Ikigai, the authors bring the knowledge from the East to the West giving readers the tools to live better. [Source: tehrantimes.com]
A.I. News
How Digital Innovation Both Strengthens and Threatens the Book Business
Over the past two years approximately 320 startups have been launched, nearly all AI-related. [Source: publishersweekly.com]
Spines, a self-publishing platform, claims it can do the work of a publisher, faster and cheaper
It’s fair to wonder if Spines is just an exercise in efficiency, or if it might bring a new dimension to the world of literature. [Source: techcrunch.com]
Jerry Garcia’s AI Voice Debuts in ElevenLabs’ Audiobook App
The applications of AI narration are already going beyond audiobooks. It’s part of a broader trend in which AI is revolutionizing content consumption. [Source: eweek.com]
interviews & podcasts
Lemonada Media, Simon & Schuster Audio Launch New Podcast
The weekly series offers full-chapter excerpts from a diverse lineup of genres, including thrillers, memoirs, romance and more. [Source: news.radio-online.com]
Meet the narrators behind your favorite audiobooks
Read or listen to an interview by NPR's Andrew Limbong with Michael Kramer and Kate Reading, the duo behind the 62 hour Wind And Truth by Brandon Sanderson. [Source: ksmu.org]