streaming noise
Universal Music Declares War on Streaming Noise
Every night, I bury my tinnitus under brown noise, cats' purrs, and the tap of rain on leaves. This "functional music," as it is known, certainly serves its function--lulling me to sleep. It also accounts for a vast portion of the streaming world: Spotify recently revealed that white noise and ambient podcasts rack up 3 million hours of listens a day. In a weird industry quirk, these ambient sounds, often recorded or generated by AI, are assigned the same monetary value as actual songs. One stream is one credit--one equal piece of the pot that's shared among everyone.