Nature sounds are proving popular on streaming services.There’s no tune, no lyrics and you can’t dance to it. Don’t let that put you off: white noise is the music industry’s next big thing. Streaming services have seen an explosion of tracks in the last year consisting entirely of hissing, humming, fizzing and other varieties of radio static, as well as recordings of rainfall, ocean waves and crackling bonfires.
“Something I’ve always been very critical of is that all streams are treated equally,” said Tom Gray, the guitarist for Gomez and founder of BrokenRecord, a campaign for more streaming revenue to be paid to artists. “It seems democratic on some level, but it doesn’t account for the actual value that the listener gets.”
Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Deezer, Tidal and other streaming services pay royalties in roughly the same way. They set aside a total pot for royalties, which is then divided up between distributors, record labels, recording artists and songwriters. That means that Mvula will get a smaller slice of the Spotify pie than will White Noise Baby Sleep, although most of it goes to the major record companies.
Most ambient noise or functional music producers have preferred not to speak publicly about their work, but Patrick Zajda, co-founder of Lullify Music Group in Nashville, said that the business had grown out of more traditional musical pursuits.