Spotify launches narrated magazine articles

Spotify has launched a new feature that adds narrated magazine articles to its platform, marking a significant expansion of its audio content beyond music and podcasts. The feature, called "Articles," began rolling out on Tuesday, May 26, and offers users the ability to listen to over 650 long-form stories from major publications including Rolling Stone, The Atlantic, Vogue, Variety, Billboard, GQ, WIRED, Vanity Fair, and Pitchfork.

Each narrated article is under two hours in length and is produced by Spotify's in-house Audiobooks team. The articles are located within the app's audiobooks section and will use a mix of human and digital voice narration. The company stated that portions using AI-generated narration will be clearly labeled for users.

For Spotify's Premium subscribers, listening to these articles will draw from their existing monthly audiobook listening allowance, which is 15 hours. Users on the free tier can purchase individual articles for $1.99 each. The initial collection is available in English across the 22 markets where Spotify offers audiobooks.

Company executives framed the move as a strategic effort to build longer listening habits and deepen user...