Enterprise band made $20,000 scamming spotify

[L&HH]

An Enterprising Band Made $20,000 Scamming Spotify

A Los Angeles band figured out a way to make $20,000 from Spotify by doing absolutely nothing.

The royalties started pouring in after Los Angeles band Vulfpeck wrote Sleepify, a completely silent album, and posted it to Spotify.

The scheme, intended to fund a tour of free shows, called for fans to stream the silent album through the night as they slept.

The band's fanbase is small—about 1,000 or so—and Spotify's royalty rate is only $.007 a stream, but the overnight plays began to add up.

Fans played the album nightly, each generating up to $3 as they slept, according to an interview in Vice. Spotify soon owed Vulfpeck a $20,000 royalty check.

Eventually the streaming service figured out what was going on.

"It's a clever stunt but we prefer Vulfpeck's earlier albums," Spotify spokesman Graham James said. "Sleepify seems derivative of John Cage's work."

Of course Spotify's sense of humor only goes so far—last week they made Vulfpeck remove the album, citing a violation of their terms and conditions.

UPDATE: As the band points out, they haven't actually received the full check—yet. "My guess is we will," Vulfpeck keyboardist Jack Stratton told Vice. "Spotify pays two months after the listen. So we'll know in May sometime."

 

[jdubnyce]

genious. Hope they get that cheque

 

[L&HH]

Now that the ruse is up, they'll probably gain even more fans, once the story starts spreading. .

What this also tells us, these artists are still making money from music streaming. I thought illegal downloading was killing sales?

 

[L&HH]

genious. Hope they get that cheque

Spotify didn't even seem to be mad about the whole ordeal, they just told them to take the album down so they might get the check. But they claimed they violated the TOS so they could use that against them.

this guy used some crazy dedication to make money from spotify/itunes:

THIS GUY MADE $23,000 BY RELEASING 14,000 SONGS ON ITUNES AND SPOTIFY | YOU NEED TO HEAR THIS | NOISEY & PHILIPS

 

[Easy-E]

 

[Larry Lobster]

Why the album got removed?

 

[L&HH]

Why the album got removed?

citing a violation of their terms and conditions

 

[Larry Lobster]

oh
too bad for them

 

[$$$HotBoyRonald$$$]

 

[*L*E*G*A*C*Y*]

F*ck these motherf*ckers.

 

[observe]

Yeahs.its no point releasing your album on spotify unless it's a free album..you don't make any money doing that..Pandoras better because if they like your album they can click a link and buy it off iTunes or wherever..plus Pandora only plays 2 songs off your album..great company..I'm glad they accepted my submission..

 

[Michael's Black Son]

those brehs shoulda got the $, went on tour and then spilled the beans about it later unless they flat out got busted doing it