Vulfpeck: The band who released a silent album in a bid to fund a world tour
Listen, we all know times are desperate out there. The music industry is on its knees, the touring landscape is abysmal, but is it bleak that you need to release a silent album?
Yet back in 2014, that seemed to be the only port of call for the American funk band Vulfpeck, who decided to tackle the age-old issue of rising touring costs by a particularly special tack. No, they weren’t going to start a crowdfunder, appeal to the fans, or flog some shitty merchandise. A silent album was the way to go.
You might be wondering what the logistics of this are and what benefits it actually serves, and in this sense, you probably won’t be alone. But as the band argued, those who were so inclined could play the album on loop while they slept, at no additional cost or hassle to them since it was streamed on Spotify.
That way, they wagered, they would be able to drum up enough support – and perhaps more importantly, cash – to set out on a world tour, giving the fans the true treat at the end of all their hard labours. Fear not: no one was getting swindled. The whole point of this rather bizarre endeavour was that the concerts would be free.
Granted, it’s a pretty extreme measure to go to, but you have to hand it to Vulfpeck for the sheer ingenuity of the move. The album title, it bears mentioning, was called Sleepify. Then you got to the tracklist. The first song, for want of a better word, was called ‘Z’, the second was called ‘Zz’, the third was ‘Zzz’, the fourth… you get the picture.
With each of the ten tracks lasting roughly 30 seconds, Sleepify’s five-minute and 16-second span was enough for the band to start earning royalties, much to the outcry of Spotify itself, as they didn’t approve of their platform being monetised for no real artistic effort. But tough luck – that’s just the way the game needs to be played sometimes.
As such, for Vulfpeck’s estimation that they would earn $20,000 from the record, they hit the nail pretty much on the head, gaining $19,655 in that regard on top of a $1,100 forthcoming addition. It really wasn’t a bad little cash grab when they, quite literally and openly, did not do a single piece of work for that money.
And the best part of it all? The plan got pulled off without a hitch, with a full tour being staged from that $20,000 bank of gold, allowing fans from San Francisco to New York to enjoy Vulfpeck’s funk glory, all without having to take a single penny out of their pockets. Although, to be clear, they did play actual music – they weren’t just standing there in silence.
So, as much as it might have seemed a pretty odd grand plan, it was one that worked an absolute treat for Vulfpeck. By the way, despite lauding the smartness of it all, if any cash-strapped musicians are reading this, please don’t get ideas: the music world can be bleak enough, we don’t need empty records.
