'Sleepify'
Michigan funk band Vulfpeck has figured out a pretty nifty way of funding its upcoming tour. Theyre gaming Spotify, by asking fans to stream their new, John Cage-style silent album. While sleeping.
As frontman Jack Stratton explained to Spin, if someone puts on the albumcalled Sleepifybefore they go to bed, by morning itll count as 800 listens, and give the band $4. If enough fans do this, itll hopefully give them enough money to hit the road.
Even better, they can use the data provided by Spotify to figure out where their fans are located, and route their tour accordingly.
Spotify seems to be okay with the stunt so far, and one of their representives explained to Digiday, This is a clever stunt, but we prefer Vulfpecks earlier albums. Sleepify seems derivative of John Cages work.
Who knows if Spotify will change their tune if more bands start to do this sort of thing. After all, corporations do seem to hate paying artists a fair amount of money.
http://www.deathandtaxesmag.com/217285/vulfpeck-is-funding-its-tour-by-asking-fans-to-stream-a-silent-album-on-spotify/