ACX's new royalty model is 50% exclusive, 30% non-exclusive
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R. S. Breed Founder
Audible's ACX announced on 28 April that its new royalty model, which it has been trialling with some creators, is opening to everyone.
- Exclusive: 50%, up from 40%
- Non-exclusive: 30%, up from 25%
It opens to all ACX creators on 26 May. The legacy model is discontinued by the end of the year.
One caveat for readers here: ACX only lets you open an account if you live in one of a handful of countries, and Australia isn't one of them. Australians reach Audible through a distributor instead, so these rates reach you second-hand, if at all: https://help.acx.com/s/article/create-an-acx-account
https://www.acx.com/mp/blog/audible-new-royalty-model
On the headline numbers it's a raise in both lanes, which is not something authors get to say about platform changes very often.
Before celebrating, look at what the percentage is a percentage of. A la carte purchases are calculated as before, at the new rate, but member listening is paid out of what ACX calls Member Value: a member's monthly plan revenue (less taxes and fees, plus any extra credits), shared across the titles they listened to that month, weighted by those titles' a la carte prices. So a bigger rate on a differently sized base. Read ACX's own explanation and the terms rather than a screenshot on social media:
https://help.acx.com/s/article/audible-s-new-royalty-model
The other thing is the gap. Exclusive versus non-exclusive used to be 15 points apart. Now it's 20. The pull towards exclusivity just got a bit stronger, and I'd assume that's deliberate. If your audio is wide (INaudio, Spotify for Authors, wherever), that gap is the number to think about.
And the end date. ACX says that by the end of the year existing titles have to be enrolled in the new model or come out of distribution. They don't get to sit on the old terms, so check what that means for your titles specifically.