As this week's back-and-forth between Taylor Swift and Apple has shown, the debate over whether or not artists can get a fair deal from music streaming is far from over. However, if your favorite band doesn't have the cultural clout of Miss Bad Blood herself, then you might want to consider alternate ways to help them get paid. Enter Eternify, a website that lets you play anything from Spotify's catalog in 30-second loops, slowly racking up pay per stream revenue for your artist of choice.
This isn't the first time that bands have tried to artificially boost streaming figures to squeeze extra cash out of Spotify. Last year, indie funk band Vulfpeck launched an album named Sleepify that consisted entirely of silent tracks. They encouraged fans to stream the album on repeat while they slept, promising they'd use the streaming revenue to fund a free tour. Billboard reported that the band made just under $20,000 from the stunt before Spotify removed the album.
"Numerous false promises of a better future for streaming."
As with Vulfpeck's silent album, Eternify is also the creation of a band — in this case, Ohm & Sport, who describe themselves as a "band in beta" and are currently promoting their debut single (available on Spotify, of course). In a statement emailed to The Verge, the band said: "We’re launching Eternify in the wake of numerous false promises of a better future for streaming: not a single one of these announcements or apparent victories have had any meaningful impact on the vast number of small artists on whom these services depend."
The group estimates that each 30-second stream (the minimum length to qualify for a play) generates $0.005 for the artist, with Spotify's own estimates pegging this figure between $0.006 and $0.0084. At Eternify's rates, that means you'll have to listen to 100 minutes of 30-second loops to make your chosen artist $1. Still, it sounds like a perfect use for the mute tab option in your browser.