Free Audiobooks Not Available Even With Premium Account

[LeeMc]

Plan

Premium

Country

UK

Device

Mobile

My Question or Issue

Recently the free Audiobooks for premium members plan started. I went to try it out as I have a premium account and it states "locked" and mentions how I have to pay for the content. I've asked my friends and family and everyone else seems to be able to access the free Audiobooks, so I'm just wondering why I'm locked out.

I pay for Spotify yearly with their gift card option (buying a card from the supermarket and inputting the code instead of providing my bank details), and I was wondering if maybe this is the reason why I'm locked out? But if that's the case, I find it incredibly unfair as I'm still paying for my premium membership rights. Anyone else having issues accessing the content?

[LeeMc]

Hey @jonathanaddams,

Thanks for coming to the Community.

Right now, Audiobooks in Premium is available only on select plans and is limited to plan managers.

This means if someone joined a Duo or Family plan as a member, they won’t have access to the free listening time, but this is something that will be explored in the future to allow Family and Duo users to have more flexibility from their audiobooks access 🙂

For more info, you can also visit the following Newsroom article: https://newsroom.spotify.com/2023-10-03/audiobooks-included-in-spotify-premium/.

Hope this clears things up!

[LeeMc]

For those people that have paid annually:

Go into your subscription and sign up to premium individual by adding a card / PayPal to your account.

This will set up auto billing for when your annual runs out (you can still add another annual to your account before hand)

This will give you access to the audiobooks. The issue is the system doesn't see you as having an active subscription.

[MusicMeGusta]

I also have a premium account and same problem.  I pay for yearly subscriptions with my credit card.  I can't access any audio books without paying additional money.  Not fun. 

[YoungGazz]

Same here, all locked up.

[ma3bmr]

I had the same problem, noticed it worked on desktop version. I then uninstalled the app then reinstalled it and it's worked, now have access. 

[flahertya1]

Also have the same issue. Been a premium member for many years and currently pay for the duo plan. My partner who is the plan owner can get access to books but I can't, even though the website says that both members should be able to access it.

[slpn1]

I'm on a Mac. Updating the app and signing in and out didn't fix it for me. I had to trash the app completely and then download and install from the Spotify website and now it's working. 

[DrJp1967]

Same here! 

[DrJp1967]

I tried deleting the app on my iPhone and logging in through chrome but still had the same problem. Please help. 

[jomo3]

I  have had a premium account for years and same issue. I can't access any audio books  (all show locked symbol) without paying additional money. Can spotify please fix?

[WalkerBotNik]

Hey all,

I was having the issue where Audio books (included in premium) were playing on my phone but locked on my desktop.

After reading through here, I completely uninstalled Spotify on my desktop and re-installed in via the Spotify website.

Now the available audio books are working on both devices 👌

Give it a go, good luck! 🤙

[minimax333]

Same issue as OP here. UK Premium Individual account for over 10 years but with no new audiobook access no matter what I've tried. I recently used the yearly gift card as well and this is the only thing I can think of which would be different than normal. 

[Taylor191]

I reached out to Spotify and found out that you do not get the audiobook perk until your bill cycle that is after 10/3. So if you were charged prior to 10/3, you will not get them until the next billing cycle. This definitely was not advertised well. 

[Chriss79]

I have the annual one too. Uninstalled etc without luck. In the end I "changed" my package to premium individual which is what I was on anyway, it said it wouldn't charge until after the annual amount finished, then it all worked

[AK1994]

Not working either, the payee for the family app has it but I don’t! Only reason we paid premium !

[Yordan]

Hey folks,

Note that only the plan manager has access to the audiobook listening time. They also cannot share their listening time with any plan members. More info here.

If you're eligible and you still can't see/access the audiobook feature - we'd suggest that you perform a clean reinstall on the affected devices. We recommend this step since it'll get you the latest app version with all necessary updates and remove any corrupted files from previous installations.

Hope this helps. Take care 🙂

[YoungGazz]

Most peoples issue is that they can't access the Audiobooks until their pre payed annual subscription is finished.

[minimax333]

Yep. To reiterate, this issue is about eligible UK Premium Individual accounts missing the feature that should be available to them. Ignore the person talking about ineligible family plans.

[Sunnyyyd]

Plan

Family (paying account)

Country

Aus

Device

Samsung S21 Ultra and Desktop

Operating System

Android and Windows 11

My Question or Issue

Hi,

I'm currently have an issue where I'm unable to purchase audiobooks that have the "included in  premium" tag. The current audiobook I'm listening to is 57 hours long and my 15 audiobook hours finished up in a couple days. The only prompt I get is to top up on my audiobook hours and that doesn't seem justifiable with how big the audiobook is. I have this problem on both my phone and desktop computer. Does anyone know a way around this?

Thanks 

[#21]

I select free listening to a book on the Spotify site. It invites me to get the app which I already have. When I open the app the book is locked. If I press on the book it says I can’t buy a book on the app

[#22]

I have looked at so many books, not a single one is available to listen with my 15hours allocation. Very concerned something is wrong with my account.