Amazon music is rolling out a new benefit for Unlimited plan subscribers: They can now access the over 1 million audiobook catalog in the US owned by Amazon Audible. The catch? You can only listen to one book per month at a time.
As of Tuesday, Amazon Music Unlimited customers in the US, UK and Canada can listen to a book each month (of any length) from Audible, in addition to having unlimited access to more than 100 million songs in HD audio and hundreds of thousands of commercial-free podcasts (including Wondery’s full list of shows ).
If you wish to access more than one Audible audiobook within a single billing cycle, you must purchase them separately. Prime members can subscribe to Amazon Music Unlimited for $9.99/month (while the cost for non-Prime users is $10.99/month).
“This is a big step for Amazon Music Unlimited to become a full audio service. We see this as a fundamental redefinition of the service’s value proposition,” said Steve Boom, Amazon’s VP of Audio, Twitch and Games. “We see this as an extension of the audiobook market to more casual listeners.” One of the goals, he said, is to provide additional differentiation to retain subscribers longer.
The benefit that provides access to one Audible audiobook per month is not available in Amazon Music Prime (the version available to Prime members at no extra cost, which is limited to shuffle-play mode for songs based on artist, album or playlist) or the ad-supported Amazon Music Free tier. Meanwhile, Audible Plus ($7.95/month) includes access to thousands of audiobooks and podcasts including originals; Audible Premium Plus ($14.95/month) adds the ability to choose one audiobook per month that you own.
The move comes after Spotify last year added an audiobook benefit to Premium subscribers in the US and other markets up to 15 hours of audiobook listening per month at no extra cost. Spotify Premium subscribers can choose from 250,000 audiobook titles (out of its 375,000-plus title catalog) against the monthly limit of 15 hours.
With the packaging of Spotify’s premium plans that combine music and audiobooks, the streamer is pay a lower mechanical royalty to songwriters in the United States under the 2022 settlement agreement between the National Music Publishers Assn. and streaming services.
Amazon’s Boom declined to comment on how bundling audiobooks into Amazon Music Unlimited might change how the company pays out music royalties. “We’re approaching all the rights involved here … from a spirit of partnership,” he said.
NMPA President and CEO David Israelite said the organization doesn’t expect Amazon Music Unlimited’s addition of audiobook streaming to reduce royalty payments to songwriters — and he contrasted Amazon’s approach with Spotify’s. “We are optimistic about the new Amazon package. Amazon has engaged in the music publishing and songwriting industry in a respectful and productive way, unlike Spotify,” Israelite said in a statement. “We expect that this new Amazon package will not will reduce revenue for songwriters. Unlike Spotify, Amazon views music creators as business partners and tries to have an agreement in place before the first round of royalty payments. This is in stark contrast to Spotify, which is trying to distort the compulsory license and cut back on what they pay songwriters.” Reached by Amounta Spotify spokesperson declined to comment.
Amazon acquired Newark, NJ-based Audible in 2008. Bob Carrigan, Audible’s CEO, said the ability to extend Audible titles to Amazon Music subscribers “allows us to captivate the next generation of listeners with a treasure trove of storytelling.”
Audible’s range of original and exclusive productions includes ‘Project Hail Mary’ from best-selling author Andy Weir, George Orwell’s dystopian classic “1984” Starring Andrew Garfield, Cynthia Erivo and Andrew Scott, and the bestseller “Can’t Hurt Me” by David Goggins.
Earlier this year, Audible struck a deal with JK Rowling’s Pottermore Publishing to co-produce one new audiobook series for the original seven Harry Potter novels. The new audiobooks, featuring a voice cast of more than 100 actors, are scheduled to premiere in late 2025 exclusively on Audible. The service also offers the entire library of Harry Potter audiobooks and related stories, including audio versions of Rowling’s 80 articles delving into Wizarding World arcana.