BISG to Honor Spotify With Its Industry Innovator Award
BISG's Industry Innovator, which recognizes an organization or individual who boldly reimagines what publishing is and can be, will be given to Spotify. The company will be recognized as part of BISG's annual meeting, scheduled to take place in New York on April 25, 2025.
Spotify is being honored for its work to support continued strong growth in the audiobook category, for which distribution has moved largely to streaming platforms in recent years. In addition to its work supporting the use of Spotify by publishers and authors, the company announced in March 2025 that it was launching a new publishing program for independent authors that encouraged them to submit short-form stories for audiobook creation and publishing consideration.
BISG executive director Brian O'Leary noted, "Over the past decade, audiobooks have grown faster than any other format. As the market for podcast content has grown, the ability to deliver books across streaming platforms has also helped book publishers take advantage of different ways to reach audiences hungry for audio content. Spotify's innovations around publisher and author service have brought continued growth in sales to the industry."
“We’re honored to be recognized by BISG as this year’s Industry Innovator,” said Suzanne Galvez, Spotify's Director of Editorial and Spotify Publishing. “At Spotify, we’re committed to opening new doors for authors, expanding access for listeners, and helping the audiobook industry grow. With the recent launch of our new short-form submission program for independent authors, we’re lowering barriers and creating new paths for original storytelling. We’re grateful to BISG for recognizing this work, and we look forward to continuing to support the publishing industry’s evolution through audiobook streaming.”
BISG introduced its Industry Innovator Award in 2014. Recent recipients include Scribd, Hederis, Wattpad Studios, Bookshop.org, and Macmillan Learning. Other honorees include LitBar, Little Free Library, Project Cicero, SheWrites Press, and Sourcebooks.
The BISG annual meeting will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Friday, April 25 at The Times Center in New York City. The theme of the meeting, "Move Fast and Fix Things," will showcase BISG's leadership in solving problems that affect two or more parts of the supply chain. Tickets are on sale now, and some sponsorship opportunities remain. For more information, visit the event page for this meeting.