Inspired by John Cage’s 4′33″, and wanting to pull one over on Spotify, Los Angeles-based band Vulfpeck recently released Sleepify, an entirely silent album. No music, no lyrics, all nothing (if only Imagine Dragons had such foresight). The group asked their fans to leave the album on overnight, so that with each go-around, they’d earn a tiny slice of Spotify royalties (about $.007 per play).
Eventually, the figures began to add up, and Vulfpeck garnered $20,000, money that was going to be spent toward making tickets for their next tour totally free. It almost worked.
The streaming giant did admit the ploy was “clever and funny,” according to band member Jack Stratton, but ultimately they asked the group to remove the album, claiming it violates Spotify’s terms of content. The band has not had all of their music removed, however, though some earlier reports suggested that. In fact, fans were made aware of Spotify’s request by a new album posted by the band titled Official Statement, in which Stratton confirms the news via a spoken word track, followed aptly by a 31 second “song” of complete silence. (Via)
Except to hear more about Sleepify later this year, when Pitchfork calls it 2014’s best album.
