Spotify for Authors

Publishing terms

Formats

Audiobook (download and streaming on Spotify)

Distribution

Spotify

Territories

Spotify's audiobook markets, which Spotify is expanding from 22 to more than 180 by the end of 2026; titles join each new market by default

Exclusivity

Not requiredUploading direct to Spotify for Authors places the audiobook on Spotify only and does not require exclusivity — the same title can be distributed elsewhere at the same time (for instance through Voices by INaudio for wider retail and library reach, or ACX non-exclusive). Spotify for Authors itself does not distribute beyond Spotify.

Royalties

• 50% of list priceA la carte purchase50% of the suggested retail price (SRP) the author or company sets, on a direct purchase of the audiobook by a Spotify listener.
• Premium streamingPremium streamingFor listens by Spotify Premium subscribers whose plan includes audiobooks, a pro-rata share of the total consumption of distributed audiobook content, "as reasonably determined by Spotify". No fixed percentage is published.

Fees

• Setup / distribution fee — not chargedFree to open an account, upload and distribute to Spotify.
• Payout fee — $0.30Charged on each Spotify Payouts payment. Balances under $10 carry forward until the threshold is met.

Payment schedule

Monthly via Spotify Payouts (or Tipalti for authors outside the US, and for US authors who joined before 4 May 2026). Paid in the last two weeks of the month once the balance reaches $10, which otherwise carries forward. A $0.30 fee applies per payout, and the first payout follows a 30-day onboarding period.

Rights & privacy

Manuscript upload

Required

Cloud storage

Yes

Account required

Yes

AI features

Optional

AI training on your work

The terms are unclearThe Distribution Terms contain no AI clause. The licence in Section 4(b) of the Spotify for Authors Terms of Use is not silent, but it is not clear either. It lets Spotify use uploaded content for "systems and product management and development, testing, training, modeling" alongside anti-piracy, anti-fraud, discoverability and sale, without saying what is trained or modelled. The same section then states that the terms "do not authorize Spotify to use User Content to create a new book, ebook or audiobook, or to use User Content to create a new, machine-generated voice without your permission." So a cloned voice or a new work made from the audiobook needs the author's permission, while other model training is neither named nor excluded. Separately, the portal offers an optional AI-narration tool using ElevenLabs voices, a creation feature rather than a use of the author's own recording.

Content licence

Under Section 4(b) of the Terms of Use the author keeps ownership and grants Spotify a non-exclusive, worldwide licence to reproduce, make available, perform, display and distribute the content, for purposes that run from distribution and promotion to product development, testing, training and modelling. The section does not state a term or say whether the licence can be revoked, and the Terms list licences of User Content among the provisions that survive termination. For distributed audiobooks the Distribution Terms prevail where the two conflict: the author sets the price and can request removal at any time, with prior purchasers keeping access.

Deletion

A title can be pulled at any time by request; Spotify uses commercially reasonable efforts to remove it within about thirty business days. Listeners who already bought or accessed it keep access.

Export

Non-exclusive and Spotify-only by design, so the same audiobook can be distributed anywhere else at the same time — for example via Voices by INaudio or ACX non-exclusive — and pulled from Spotify on request.

Policy reviewed 12 October 2026