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Spotify has taken a significant step towards expanding its selection of audiobooks by announcing that it will soon accept titles narrated by AI voices created by ElevenLabs. This announcement, made on Thursday, is expected to greatly boost the number of available audiobooks on the platform.
The company highlighted in its announcement that “For authors seeking an affordable method to produce high-quality audiobooks, using ElevenLabs’ digital voice narration is an excellent choice.” They mentioned that AI narration has been one of the most desired features by users, allowing authors to narrate their works in 29 different languages while providing full control over voice selection and intonation.
To submit an AI-narrated book to Spotify, authors must first upload their content to ElevenLabs, where the platform’s AI will produce the voiceover. However, authors should keep in mind that unless they are only narrating a short document, they will likely need to subscribe to one of ElevenLabs’ plans, which range from $22 per month for the Creator tier to $1,320 for the Business tier. An average audiobook typically runs around ten hours, according to industry sources like Speechify.
After the AI completes the narration, authors can easily download the resulting audio files and upload them to Spotify’s audiobook distribution service called Findaway Voices. That submission will then undergo a review process—most likely conducted by human reviewers—to ensure quality before publication. Spotify plans to clearly mark its AI-narrated titles, making it easier for listeners to identify them.
The acceptance of this new service by established authors, many of whom are understandably cautious about AI using their works for training purposes, remains uncertain. Notably, John Scalzi, an esteemed author who has won both the Hugo and Locus awards, includes clauses in his contracts ensuring that only human narrators will be used for his books.
I have it as a contractual point that my narration has to be done by humans.
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