Spotify’s relationship with HarperCollins, similar Harper’s deal with Audible, involves a wholesale distribution deal, which means that the publisher is paid on a consumption basis — a per-listen sort of model, Murray said. That sort of model is more direct than the streaming music model where a percentage of subscription revenue first goes into a pool and is then paid out to artists. The publisher can tell authors exactly what their royalties will be from audiobooks under this model.
Murray additionally said there’s room for growth with Spotify, as the company is working to adjust a “technical problem” with family plans, which currently limits audiobook streaming to the family plan’s credit card holder. In time, Spotify will open up listening to all plan members, he said.