Scoping Spotify's First Audiobook Release: Goal, Listeners and Launch Features

Spotify is moving into audiobooks, and you are the product manager responsible for its minimum viable product. Walk through how you would define and build that first release: what it needs to prove for Spotify, which listeners it serves first and which of their problems it solves, what goes into the first version and what is deliberately left out, and how you would judge whether it worked. ```hint Decide what the first release must prove An MVP is a test, not a smaller copy of an established audiobook store. Settle the one question the launch must answer for Spotify (will people listen, will they pay, does it win or keep subscribers), then keep only the features needed to answer it. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - Should audiobooks live inside the existing Spotify app next to music and podcasts, or in a separate app? - How will listeners get access: bundled into Premium, bought title by title, or sold as an add-on? Or is choosing the access model part of the task? - Is the first release global, or limited to one launch market where a catalog can be licensed in a single language? - Which business goal matters most to leadership: new paid subscribers, retention of current subscribers, or a new revenue line? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - A clear statement of what the MVP must prove, tied to Spotify's business and its existing audio habits, with the alternatives it beats. - A reasoned choice of the first listener segment, such as podcast-heavy Spotify users, avid audiobook listeners who already pay a competitor, or newcomers to audiobooks, with concrete pain points for that segment. - A tight first-release scope across catalog, discovery, playback and access model, with explicit cuts and the reason for each. - The supply side: publisher licensing, catalog depth in the chosen genres, and narration quality. - Success metrics with a decision rule for expanding, iterating or stopping, plus guardrails that protect music and podcast listening. ### Follow-up Questions - Audible already leads the category with a credit-based subscription. Does your MVP need to win its heavy listeners, and if not, when would you go after them? - Early results show many listeners start a book but few finish one. What do you investigate and change? - Publishers resist having their books included in an all-you-can-listen subscription. How does that shape your access model?