Spotify, audiobooks and the model of free

Posted by Tim on the 9 July in General

General

If you haven’t heard of Spotify then you’re in for a treat. If you’re already a Spotify convert, you can skip to the next paragraph. Still here? Spotify is an application for Mac, Windows and Linux allowing you to listen to a huge library of music legally and freely. It’s an advertising funded system, but there are significantly fewer ads than you would expect to hear on the radio and with the ability to compile your own or even shared custom playlists, Spotify is fast becoming the music application of choice among those in the know.

A few days ago, Spotify released the first free audiobook onto it’s system and if there’s a positive uptake we could see audiobooks carve out a permanent space for themselves on Spotify. On the subject of free and to nicely tie in with this article, the audiobook in question is Chris Anderson's latest book 'Free: The Future of a Radical Price'. Anyone who follows Anderson’s books, blog or magazine will know he is the Editor of 'Wired' magazine and author of 'The Long Tail'.

'The Long Tail' is a fantastic read for those interested in emerging new business models and why choice and niche content is how businesses can increase market share. I am yet to listen to or read Anderson’s new book but 'Free' is all about how businesses need to understand the economics of "free" and figure out how to captialise on providing their services for nothing. If it is anything as thought provoking as 'The Long Tail' (of which I have no doubt) I can highly recommend it. If the idea of an audiobook still seems a little space age for you but you're interested in reading it, you can buy on Amazon or download a free ebook from his blog, scribd or Google books.