diff --git a/packages/backend-common/src/reading/index.ts b/packages/backend-common/src/reading/index.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c632613934
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/backend-common/src/reading/index.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2020 Spotify AB
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+export type { UrlReader } from './types';
diff --git a/packages/backend-common/src/reading/types.ts b/packages/backend-common/src/reading/types.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..9b29d1c45d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/backend-common/src/reading/types.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2020 Spotify AB
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+/**
+ * A generic interface for fetching plain data from URLs.
+ */
+export type UrlReader = {
+  read(url: string): Promise<Buffer>;
+};