Is Spotify the new Amazon? The platform now lets you buy physical books from the app – and its new Page Match tool lets you sync your audio books with the printed version

• Spotify vs Amazon rivalry intensifies as the music streaming service rolls out more upgrades for audiobooks
• As well as its new Page Match tool, it's partnering with Bookshop.org allowing you to purchase physical books through the app
• It aims to support independent book retailers, but we don't know what percentage Spotify will take with each transaction

Update: Spotify responded to our request for comment on how pay-outs work when physicals books are purchased through the app. The company provided the following statement:

When someone purchases a physical book on Spotify, the order is completed and fulfilled through Bookshop.org, which routes sales through its network of local bookstores. A purchase through Spotify contributes to a shared earnings pool that Bookshop.org distributes across participating independent bookstores, helping keep local bookshops an integral part of their communities. Spotify is not involved in the pooling or distribution of funds.

Original story follows:

Spotify has more audiobook upgrades on the way, and in addition to the launch of its new Page Match tool the company is partnering with Bookshop.org – allowing you to purchase physical books through the streaming service, in what looks like a strategic move to compete with Amazon.

Similar to Amazon’s Whispersync function, which allows you to switch between your Kindle eBook and its audiobook version on Audible, Page Match is a “first-of-its-kind feature that enables readers to seamlessly switch between a printed or e-book and its audiobook on Spotify with a single scan”, as Spotify puts it.

If you’re a keen reader who enjoys floating between physical literature and audiobooks, Page Match allows you to pick up where you left off, ending the days of searching for the exact page you’re on when you want to switch to audiobook form, and vice versa.

To get started, all you have to do is scan the page of your book or ebook using the camera in the Spotify app, and then Page Match will take you to the exact place in the audiobook version. Just a few weeks back Spotify was testing out the feature, and it will become available to all audiobook users by February 23 for most English-language titles – but that’s not even the most interesting part of this upgrade.

It’s Spotify vs Amazon

For the first time, you can purchase physical books from the retailer Bookshop.org (an independent bookstore supporter) right in the Spotify app – so now the competition with Amazon really is on.

The feature is rolling out later in the spring, and readers in the US and UK who enjoy listening to audiobooks in Spotify will now have the option to enjoy them in physical form “Since physical books remain the preferred format for a large share of book lovers”, Spotify says.

However, the service adds that this is more than just giving dedicated Spotify audiobook listeners easy purchasing access for physical media, sharing that it “connects discovery on Spotify with physical ownership, making it easier for readers to move from finding a book they’re interested in to enjoying it in the format that feels right” – but my question is about the partnership itself.

While it seems like a good way to support independent bookstores, there’s always a catch with Spotify. Now that the platform will allow you to purchase physical books through in-app links, there’s no doubt that it will take a percentage of these sales which, if it’s anything like its artist royalties, could become and issue.

The ethos behind it all isn’t terrible and I agree that independent retailers – whether that’s for books, music, or other physical forms of media – need support, but there’s generally an ulterior motive when larger companies get into partnerships like this.

We’ve reached out to Spotify for a comment on how book sales will work under the new partnership, but we’ll update this story when we learn more.

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