Spotify’s new audiobook streaming could have ‘devastating effect’, says Society of Authors
The industry body says the music giant’s move to make more than 150,000 titles available has not been discussed with authors and may compete with sales.
May compete with sales…. that’s quaint. Of course it will. It will crash sales of audio books.
I wonder: how in the world did Spotify get that license agreement through with the publishers? Great question, no?
There are lots of questions. Who is going to buy audiobooks when they can stream them instead. Aren’t the publishers shooting themselves in the foot?
Personally I believe people are unhappy and everyone is looking for the quick sale in order to retire. Few people want to run a restaurant, instead they want to scale up and franchise to they can sell. Publishing is difficult and many probably want to make big deals and get out. There have been lots of mergers and the number of large publishers has decreased dramatically.
To be an author is just as difficult as being a musician. It’s sad. Humans need stories. We are the story species. We crave meaning. And yet the institutions that have grown around music and storytelling have become so loathsome that it’s becoming increasingly difficult.
>Personally I believe people are unhappy and everyone is looking for the quick sale in order to retire.
I even see a related effect amongst post-secondary educators: At the termination of Spring Semester 2023, immediately before “summer break” … no fewer than 6 instructors retired from my institution. The prior year it was 9. Two years ago the Dean of the college of technology and construction left. I understand the general education Dean will retire in May 2024. Many of these people are not (particularly) old, feeble or ill. They just want to leave. And so it goes …
> And yet the institutions that have grown around music and storytelling have become so loathsome that it’s becoming increasingly difficult.
A very good friend of mine involved in the publishing industry has actually used your word to me on a phone call when discussing the publishing industry recently : “loathsome”