Rhythm funk band Vulfpeck has a plan. They want to tour playing only free shows, and fund it entirely with a Spotify hack: streaming silence.
The group from Ann Arbor, Mi., released their latest album, Sleepify, in the beginning of March. It consists of ten tracks entitled progressively from “Z” to “Zzzzzzzzzz” and ranging between 31 to 32 seconds, Vulfpeck frontman Jack Stratton states it may be “the most silent album ever recorded.”
As explained by Spotify last year, the company pays out on average between $0.006 and $0.0084 per stream to artists, based upon a few variables. However, at least 30 seconds must be played of a track to be considered a stream. Enter Vulfpeck (and their 10 silent, minimal-length tracks).
Stratton has calculated their band’s payment to be $.005 per stream. “So if you were to listen to Sleepify all night on repeat, you’d generate 4 dollars.” he says.
Potential show-goers can therefore help replace ticket sale revenue with a few nights of Sleepify‘d rest.
The idea seems to be working. In under a month, the album has already received over 350,000 plays. If Stratton’s per-stream estimate holds up, it will have generated over $18000 thus far. It will also help decide where the band will tour, going to the locations that had the most streams.
(Their previous work is pretty good too: I highly recommend Outro.)
Just remember to listen to Sleepify as intended.
please don’t “shuffle” sleepify. i know this might come of snobbish, but we spent a lot of time on track order.
— Vulfpeck (@vulfpeck) March 12, 2014
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