Findaway, an audiobook seller owned by Spotify, has announced that it will no longer take a 20 percent cut of royalties for titles sold on its DIY Voices platform if the sales are made on Spotify. In a blog post published on Monday, Findaway stated that it would “pass on cost-saving efficiencies” from its integration with the streaming service. Last summer, Spotify finalized its $123 million acquisition of Findaway in a move to solidify its position in the audiobooks business.
While authors can upload their audiobooks onto Findaway’s Voices platform for free, the company normally uses an 80/20 pricing structure where Findaway takes a 20 percent fee on all royalties earned. However, that fee is applied after sales platforms take their own 50 percent cut on the list price. Under the old revenue split, an author who sold a $10 audiobook would have to give $5 to Spotify and $1 to Findaway. But moving forward, that same author will no longer have to pay the $1 distribution fee to Findaway when a sale is made through Spotify.