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When you consume a book, youre always making compromises. Print means no animation and no outbound links to enhance the reading experience. E-ink often yields potato-quality images and muted colors. An iPads LED-backlit display strains the eyes. Audiobooks, meanwhile, generally rely solely on the theater of the mind. But what if they didnt have to? Blending the audiobook experience with sight and sound might seem like fertile, if not obvious ground for innovationbut its not happening within a traditional publishing house. Rather, its happening at Spotify. While the majority of Spotifys audiobooks are currently just thataudiofor Bruce Holsingers summer hit Culpability and some 100 other books, Spotify has crafted something more. Through its new Follow Along feature, the company is bringing bespoke visuals and music to the mix, and nudges the form of the audiobook forward in the process. Spotify sounds off The feature, currently being tested, follows years of increased focus on the audiobook segment by the music streamer. Spotify launched an la carte audiobook offering in 2022, and then followed it with its Audiobooks in Premium program in 2023, granting premium subscribers 15 hours of books per month. The company currently has some 400,000 books under its belt, and is licensing, producing, and publishing more than 150 titles a year, and just last week launched a new $11.99 per month Audiobooks+ add-on, which grants 15 hours of listening on top of whatever plan one has. (Its a business expansion that perhaps comes at an ideal time for Spotify, which just reported a 12% year-over-year rise in subscribers to 276 millionbut also a Q2 net loss of around $100 million.) [Image: Spotify] ‘No shade on PDFs’ The Follow Along initiative spawned from the supplementary PDF files publishers provide with audiobooks, according to Niamh Parsley, Spotifys director of product design for audiobooks. Now, no shade on PDFs, Parsley says, I love a good PDF, but Spotify users werent engaging with those files much, even though they often contained rich imagery or tools to assist with the retention of complex topics. Follow Along emerged from a thought experiment about how Spotify could get more value out of its existing content. It really stemmed from real experiences, says Parsley. Wouldn’t it be cool if this cookbook that we have the audio for showed us the recipes so I can be inspired by it and be more likely to actually make the recipe? Rather than start with a wireframe filled with dummy text, she says the Spotify team led with the book’s actual content to create solutions organic to each book. When Follow Along first launched as a test last November, users discovered visual assets like photos and diagrams synced to the narration in real time in the Spotify app. But with the launch of the AI techno-thriller family drama Culpability last month, the team has taken the model to new levels. [Image: Spotify] New, custom visuals Even before Culpability became an Oprah’s Book Club pick, the Spotify team knew it’d be a hit, according to Associate Director of Audiobook Publishing Colleen Prendergast. Spotifys producer and casting director worked directly with author Bruce Holsinger to bring the experience to life, and hearing the narrators early recordings prompted the team to consider adding custom visuals to the mix for the first time. Her performance was so multifaceted, it inspired us to explore ways to make the listener experience on Spotify even more dynamic, recalls Prendergast. With publisher Spiegel & Grau on board, the team began identifying moments in the manuscript that lent themselves to visual storytelling. Rodrigo Corral Design Studio had created the books cover, so they brought Corral and his crew into the project as well. Ultimately, the team created more than 100 custom assets for the audiobook, from section headers to chat logs and conceptual images that echo the vibe of the cover. [Image: Spotify] We frequently create interior illustrations for printed books, but seeing these visuals integrated into the digital and audio space is genuinely new and exciting, says Anna Corral, partner at Rodgiro Corral. Of the process itself, she added, We worked to distill the emotional undercurrents into images that guide the listener ithout overexplaining, allowing the reader to reflect and make it their own. Of course, like anything new, you’ve got to figure out the best way to use itand while listening to Culpability, I likely no doubt missed certain visuals by virtue of not staring at my phone for the duration of the book, waiting to see what might pop up. Interfaces like Apple CarPlay also dont generally display visuals like these so as not to distract driversso in lieu of something like an audible chime to check your phone or tablet for a given image, you may need to hop over to the Extras section of the audiobook to find what you missed. The tune of the tomes In May, Spotify partnered with 33 , Bloomsburys cult-favorite line of books about popular albums, to add another Follow Along element that seems like a no-brainer for the streaming service: music. Now, when the audio books are probing an album or discussing a certain song, a link to it will appear in the app so users can save it to their library or listen in the moment. Currently, Follow Along is still a test feature. While Spotify declined to provide more robust usage metrics, Parsley noted that users actively engaging with the initial slate of titles’ supplementary material within the app increased by 245% over their former PDF counterparts. Publishers have been requesting the feature, according to Parsley. Spotify has also observed an increase in listeners per title, with the hypothesis there being that providing more visual-forward experiences can entice more listening, she says. Ultimately, Parsley sees opportunity for not just a new visual spin on an old form, but for the types of books associated with audiobooks at large. For instance, Billie Eilish released an audio component to her eponymous photo book, and Spotify created a Follow Along experience merging both. And therein lies perhaps the next unexpected frontier for audiobooks, which Parsley enthusiastically endorses: the humble coffee table tome. There’s a lot of untapped potential there [with] content that is visually based, and how we can create this multimodal experience around it, she says. The door is wide open right now because it is so earlyso it’s very exciting.
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Hello and welcome to Modern CEO! I’m Stephanie Mehta, CEO and chief content officer of Mansueto Ventures. Each week this newsletter explores inclusive approaches to leadership drawn from conversations with executives and entrepreneurs, and from the pages of Inc. and Fast Company. If you received this newsletter from a friend, you can sign up to get it yourself every Monday morning. Longtime Modern CEO readers know I love lists, from subjective packages such as Fast Companys Best Dressed in Business to the just-released Inc. 5000, which annually ranks Americas fastest-growing private companies. In December, Inc. will unveil the winners of its Best in Business Awards, which aim to recognize the years standout projects and initiatives across more than a dozen categories. If the Inc. 5000 is a snapshot of fast growth, Inc.s Best in Business is a view into business excellence, says Mike Hofman, Inc.s editor-in-chief. Any CEO or executive trying to navigate the ever-changing business landscape will find inspirationand more than a few good insightsin the winning entries: startups outmaneuvering corporate competitors with bold marketing or cheeky social media campaigns; unexpected partners collaborating on groundbreaking new products; and leaders transforming their companies by applying generative artificial intelligence (AI) in wholly inventive and creative ways. Inc.s editors are looking for companies that are doing something new and different, Hofman says. Financial results and other success metrics are table stakes, he says, but his journalists also are looking for projects that are cutting edge, forward-looking, and impactful. For awardees, being named to the Best in Business list is more than a stamp of approval. The recognition boosted our national brand awareness, which is crucial for a company like ours operating in an emerging category, says Jing Gao, founder of condiment maker Fly by Jing, a 2024 awardee in the consumer products category. This honor from Inc. not only helps our business, but it uplifts the entire category and shines a light on Asian American Pacific Islander-owned businesses across the country. If your company has achieved greatness this year, apply for Best in Business via this link. And if youre a fan of a business that has done outstanding work we should know about, send your recommendations to me at stephaniemehta@mansueto.com. Reader mailbag A few weeks ago I wrote about the need to reframe conscious capitalism in response to the backlash to business for good. Now comes the backlash to the backlash. Some readers of Modern CEO feel reports of the death of stakeholder capitalism are greatly exaggerated. Its always tempting to announce the death of X when the pendulum swings in a new direction, says Susan Lyne, cofounder and managing partner of BBG Ventures. But stakeholder capitalism isnt a woke concept. It simply recognizes that the long-term success of a company is based on multiple factors: customers who love your product [or] service enough to be advocates; a work environment that draws more people than it churns through; and shareholders who trust your guidance. Yes, there were companies that jumped on the bandwagon without conviction, but the underlying management philosophy is neither radical nor new. As investors in early-stage companies, we look for founders who recognize that its still the best way to build a lasting company. Susan McPherson, founder and CEO of social impact and communications consultancy McPherson Strategies, notes that younger consumers continue to believe in business as a force for good. She cites a Deloitte study which found that 60% of younger millennials and Gen Z consumers believe companies have the opportunity to influence social equality, environmental protection, and responsible technology. Corporate leaders who remain independent and committed to their stakeholders and long-term value creation, rather than preemptively genuflecting to power, will see the most meaningful gains [over time], she writes. Alan Fleischmann, founder and CEO of Laurel Strategies, a global CEO advisory firm, concurs: The ideal that business and markets are forces for good will endurebecause key stakeholders will insist on it, he writes. The challenge, and the opportunity, is to embed purpose and action so deeply into operations that they deliver positive outcomes alongside greater efficiency, meaningful innovation, and genuine trust. There is simply too much at stake to do otherwise. Kate Williams, CEO of environmental nonprofit 1% for the Planet, also believes businesses can effect positive change, especially when they work together. She cites the work of a coalition of companies and other groups that successfully lobbied earlier this year to strike a measure calling for the sale of public lands from a U.S. Senate reconciliation bill. The challenges we face today are too big for any one business to solve alonebut when companies unite around a shared commitment, such as protecting our planet, our collective impact can be game-changing, she writes. Read more: The best of the best AI avatars powered this startup to become Americas fastest-growing company How Ryan Reynolds became a Best in Business winner for helping small companies deliver ads Best in Business honoree Fly by Jing just repackaged for a post-DTC world
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For months, Dan Baker has been glued to his neighborhoods Nextdoor feed in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Baker, a longtime solar consultant, looked for one thing as he scrolled: attacks against a planned solar farm and battery storage facility that could help power tens of thousands of homes in the community. The local planning commission signed off on the project in February, but some residents immediately mobilized to try to stop it, filing an appeal. We have a really odd situation here in that its largely a progressive community and kind of on top of the whole renewable energy thing, Baker says. But this particular project turned out to be somewhat of a surprise because of the opposition. The solar farm, proposed by the renewable developer AES Energy, would sit just outside the city of Santa Fe in the community of Eldorado, covering around 680 acres with solar panels and a large battery energy storage system (BESS). Some neighbors have argued that the batteries pose a major fire risk. But experts say thats not the case. Baker, and other local climate advocates, have been fighting the misinformation. After two days of hearings last week, the Board of County Commissioners is still deliberating on whether the project can move forward. Its one example of how difficult it can be to build a renewable energy projectand how YIMBY (yes in my backyard) support can help. A ‘solar-friendly’ community Eldorado, which was built in the 1970s on former ranch land, was actually marketed as one of the first “solar-friendly” communities in the country. Homes were built to take advantage of passive solar heat in the winter, and some were early to adopt new technology like solar water heating. But the idea of the solar farm has been largely unpopular. “Right now, they’re used to looking out over 800 acres of unused ranch land, which they don’t own,” says Baker. “But people tend to consider that ‘their’ backyard.” The opposition echoes similar efforts to block wind and solar farms around the country. In the early days of wind energy projects on the grid, only around 10% of projects faced pushback. By 2016, that had jumped to around 25%. Wealthy, white communitieslike Eldoradoare more likely to oppose projects. A study found that the average group of protestors is made up of only 23 people, though Eldorado’s includes more than 1,500. ‘Build it in a safer place’ Most residents argue that they support clean energysomewhere else. “I don’t think any of us are opposed to the effort of reducing emissions,” one neighbor recently wrote on Nextdoor. “It’s just the wrong location, location, location!” Another wrote, “Obviously I am not a civil engineer. But I do have a right to object to this facility if there is the possibility of damage to my well-being and property.” The group gave itself a pro-environment name: the Clean Energy Coalition. (Astroturfing groups funded by the fossil fuel industry have used similar naming tactics, like the “Save the Whales Coalition,” which fights offshore wind.) In Santa Fe, residents say their biggest concern is fire risk. But the evidence doesn’t support their claims that the batteries are unsafe. How batteries are designed for fire safety While fires have happened in battery storage systems, those fires are rareand getting even rarer. “We have a tremendous amount of storage that is on the grid operating all the time, especially, for example, in California and Texas,” says Nikhil Kumar, a program director at GridLab, a nonprofit focused on grid transformation. “Statistically speaking, the risk is low single digits.” The industry has improved quickly; the number of incidents dropped 98% between 2018 and 2024. Out of the seven stationary battery fires that have happened in the U.S. in the last five years, none have escaped from a single container. “There has never been a fire from a BESS facility that physically spread outside the facility,” Baker says. One fire cited by opponents, at Moss Landing in California, was built in an unusual wayinside a former gas power plant instead of containers, and not following modern safety standards. Even though that project was only built five years ago, safety standards have already been updated multiple times. A typical battery storage system sits inside a series of specialized units the size of shipping containers. Inside, rows of cabinets hold battery modules. A battery management system continuously monitors each battery cell for problems. The systems either use fire suppression or are designed to fully contain a fire if it does occur. In the proposed project, the batteries would be 1.5 miles from the nearest house. Opponents overstating the risk In Santa Fe, the solar farm opponents have repeatedly overstated the risk, says Baker, the solar consultant. He’s responded by trying to carefully provide the correct information on Nextdoor threads, or in person. “They make these statements without evidence,” he says. “It’s fearmongering without basis.” There’s more risk that a fire could start accidentally at your neighbor’s houseand much more risk that a wildfire could occur. Fires are natural in the local ecosystem, but becoming more frequent and destructive because of climate change; building more renewable energy can help slow down the worst climate impacts. Even if the risk isn’t zero, that doesn’t mean that the project should be built near a different community. Historically, most electricity in New Mexico came from coal power plants near Native American communities, where they dealt with constant pollution. “Coal is guaranteed to poison people every single day of operation,” says Lucy Gent Foma, a neighbor who has been advocating for the solar farm project. “I just don’t think it’s fair for us to complain about the possibility of a risk of something that can be mitigated, and has been tested and certified to the highest level of standards available in the whole country, and we’re saying, ‘No, we don’t want thatbut it’s okay that we’ve poisoned Native and underprivileged communities on a daily basis.’ That’s not fair.” Why location matters Under a 2019 law, utilities in New Mexico need to transition to renewable energy. The utility in Santa Fe has told regulators that it needs 2,000 megawatts of new renewable energy by 2030or roughly 13 plants the size of the one proposed for Eldorado. Eldorado happens to be one of the few locations that can easily tie into an existing transmission line, which is critical. “Transmission lines are one of the hardest things to get approved in the whole country,” Gent Foma says. The line also directly serves Santa Fe. Right now, power travels to the city from farther away, using transmission lines that go through forestsand utilities have started implementing power shutoffs on high fire rsk days to prevent accidental sparks. Generating and storing power locally would help the city’s lights stay on. YIMBY versus NIMBY There’s strong support for climate action in Santa Fe. Still, it’s inherently harder to get supporters to attend planning meetings than opponents who are motivated by fears about their own properties. “It’s so much easier to mobilize people who are angry and trying to shut something down than people who are in support,” says Gent Foma. Opponents tend to be retired, she says, while supporters are typically younger and may not be able to leave work or their young children to attend a meeting Supporters have been organizing as much as they can, and having meetings about how to correct misinformation and mobilize public comments. “The irony is that if you asked anyone in Santa Fe if they support solar, they would say yes,” she says. “So I think the vast majority of people who are only minimally aware of this project are thinking, ‘Yeah, that’s a no-brainer.’ There’s not the net of misinformation getting to people who would otherwise support it. One thing that’s become clear is that like support needs organizing as much as opposition organizes.” YIMBY support can make a difference, as has been proven over the last decade in the housing world. And supporters are beginning to speak out more for renewable energy projects across the country. “Community support can make a huge difference in countering the false narratives about these projects,” says Celerah Hewes, a national field organizer for Moms Clean Air Force, a nonprofit that helps parents take climate action. “Families that support clean energy projects in their neighborhoods know that they are doing their part to ensure future generations can breathe easier and that we are taking action to fight the climate warming that is contributing to extreme weather across the country.” The clock is ticking Delaying the solar project means more emissions nowbut also means that energy costs could go up. Even if the county approves the projects, opponents have said that they’ll sue. “One thing that’s happened recently that turns up the heat is Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill,” Baker says. “If there’s further delay, or if the conditional use permit is denied and we have to start over somewhere else, the cost of the project will go up 30% overnight. And we consumers will have to pay.”
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