Band games Spotify by streaming silent tracks for cash
When you listen to a song on Spotify, the artist is paid around $0.0007, which is hardly enough to send an up-and-coming act out on tour. Imagine, however, if a band's small but devoted fanbase played a short album on repeat for a whole night, each one would earn around $4. That's the inspired idea behind Sleepify, an album from the band Vulfpeck, which comprises 11 x 32-second-long tracks of silence, specifically to game Spotify's royalty system and fund the band's forthcoming tour. If we're honest, we're envious that we didn't come up with the idea first -- although some might say that John Cage got there well before the rest of us.
Update: In an official statement, Spotify said that the album was "a clever stunt, but we prefer Vulfpeck's earlier albums. Sleepify seems derivative of John Cage's work." Even when wronged, the network's got a good sense of humor.
