Sleepify

Vulfpeck released Sleepify in March 2014 as a means to fund a concert tour of the same name; all of the shows were to be free of charge, but funded solely using royalty payments from the album on the music streaming service Spotify. The service calculates royalties based on how many times a track has been played, counting a single play as listening to the song for at least 30 seconds. As such, all of the tracks on Sleepify are just over thirty seconds in length, and consist solely of silence; a promotional video for the album jokingly labeled it as "the most silent album ever recorded". The band encouraged fans to stream the album on a loop overnight while they were sleeping (hence the name); with each stream costing US$0.007, The Guardian estimated that streaming the album for seven hours would accumulate $5.88 in royalty payments over 840 streams, and 100 people doing the same with one device each would accumulate $588 in payments. In 2017, Vulfpeck released the album as a 7-inch single. == Reception ==

Tim Jonze of The Guardian facetiously reviewed Sleepify, stating that the "opening track 'Z' certainly sets the tone, a subtle, intriguing work that teases the listener as to what may come next. It's followed by 'Zz' and 'Zzz' which continue along similar lyrical themes while staying true to Sleepify's overriding minimalist aesthetic. By the midpoint, you realise Vulfpeck are aiming to pull off the same trick as the Ramones: they may only have one song, but it's an effective one." The album's royalty-generating scheme received worldwide press coverage, including Spiegel of Germany, Editora Abril of Brazil, The New Zealand Herald, El País of Spain, Komsomolskaya Pravda of Russia, and Time magazine of the U.S. Rolling Stone noted that Spotify still streams the Cage composition 4′33″, a performance art piece not focused on royalties generation, in which musicians refrain from playing their instruments. == Royalties and Sleepify Tour ==

On July 22, 2014, Billboard reported that Vulfpeck received royalty payments totaling $19,655 with an additional $1,100 forthcoming. The payment calculation was based on a rate of $0.0030 to $0.0038 per play for short tracks and a total of about 5.5 million plays. Although Spotify did allow the album to remain on its service for seven weeks and called it a "clever stunt", the service removed the album in late April without providing a specific reason for violation of its terms of service. Vulfpeck founder, Stratton, said he was surprised by the timing of the take down, given that the album could have been taken down much earlier. In August 2014, Vulfpeck announced the admission-free Sleepify Tour scheduled for September 15 to 26, 2014. Tour locations included San Francisco, San Luis Obispo, Los Angeles, Chicago, Ann Arbor, and New York City. ==Stratton on Spotify==

In a 2018 interview with CNBC, Stratton criticized Spotify's monthly subscription model, and claimed the model "looks more like radio than an on-demand model." However, he was supportive of streaming services for providing a platform for artist visibility. == Track listing ==