[HN Gopher] Spotify podcasters are making $18k a month with noth...
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Spotify podcasters are making $18k a month with nothing but white
       noise
        
       Author : Michelangelo11
       Score  : 301 points
       Date   : 2022-06-05 11:55 UTC (11 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.bloomberg.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.bloomberg.com)
        
       | HPsquared wrote:
       | I wonder if they ever get copyright strikes.
        
       | tartoran wrote:
       | There's plenty of white noise on radio bands between stations, FM
       | or AM, it's got plenty of flavors. Any old radio would do.
        
         | throwaway15908 wrote:
         | Are you sure, there is no signal in background radiation?
         | Someone should check.
        
           | digitalsankhara wrote:
           | Sure, it's possible but there are plenty of gaps where its
           | random noise - but even a very very weak signal would be
           | swamped with noise if the radio is in FM mode.
           | 
           | Pure radio static is the sound of the universe! Very
           | frequency dependent - the higher up in frequency (or shorter
           | the wavelength) the more of it is cosmic in nature - point a
           | microwave radio dish towards/away from the sun and hear the
           | difference, or even down towards the ground to hear the
           | sky/earth noise. [1]
           | 
           | I personally find a clear spot between military submarine
           | stations in the low frequency 10-60 KHz range quite relaxing
           | to listen to as it's a mix of random noise and thunder
           | static.
           | 
           | Go VLF or ELF for earth sounds;
           | 
           | https://theinspireproject.org/default.asp?contentID=17
           | 
           | [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_noise
        
       | SnowHill9902 wrote:
       | Leaving a fan on in your bedroom is actually an accepted medical
       | prescription.
        
         | cheschire wrote:
         | Except in Korea, where it's seen as life threatening.
         | https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/fan-death/
        
       | prepend wrote:
       | I avoid Spotify as a podcast app because of their ad injection
       | system. I think that any white noise apps would be super bad with
       | loud ads stuck into random spots.
        
         | rockbruno wrote:
         | Why not just pay for it? I understand being annoyed by the free
         | product in its regular use cases, but wanting the free version
         | of the app to give you a flawless experience from something as
         | specific as playing white noise during the night evokes
         | something in me that I cannot really put a word on.
        
           | lancesells wrote:
           | Doesn't Spotify put ads in premium as well? Not sure how
           | legit this site is: https://www.pocket-lint.com/smart-
           | home/news/spotify/144139-h...
           | 
           | I think of Spotify as an ad company and not a music service
           | or podcast service:
           | https://techcrunch.com/2022/01/06/spotify-introduces-a-
           | new-a...
           | 
           | Apple Music seems to be headed this way as well because
           | trillions just aren't enough:
           | https://www.macworld.com/article/707588/apple-music-ads-
           | stat...
        
           | karaterobot wrote:
           | I don't listen to podcasts on Spotify, but I believe they
           | insert ads into podcasts even if you have a premium
           | subscription. At least they used to.
           | 
           | https://community.spotify.com/t5/Other-Podcasts-Partners-
           | etc...
        
           | phatfish wrote:
           | Well, there are ads in the premium version Podcasts too (they
           | seem to be only on a few "Spotify Exclusive" ones that they
           | threw cash at for the moment).
           | 
           | I can put up with it as there is maybe one or two I listen to
           | regularly with Spotify ads, but if they go much further it's
           | a solid reason to drop the Premium subscription.
           | 
           | If the white noise is in the Music section you will be ad
           | free though.
        
           | prepend wrote:
           | Because the apple podcast app is free and, while pretty bed,
           | gives me the same podcasts without ads.
           | 
           | It's not that I want the free version of Spotify to do
           | something, I would rather use other tools that are free or
           | already paid for.
           | 
           | Separately from this, charging a monthly fee for a white
           | noise app seems like a horrible value and something that
           | everyone should avoid and just use an algorithmic source with
           | a one time fee or is just free. I know that people are free
           | to spend on whatever they like but it seems we're far into
           | "fool and his money are soon parted" territory.
        
         | moneywoes wrote:
         | Are there ads injected in podcasts as well? I thought it was
         | just music? I still get adds clock around when using it for
         | podcasts though like pop ups
        
       | TheOtherHobbes wrote:
       | So basically crypto, but for audio.
        
       | seydor wrote:
       | Not anymore ...
        
       | sfblah wrote:
       | Presumably this also means they're consuming massive amounts of
       | bandwidth (for audio, anyway), since it's not compressible.
       | Pretty funny!
        
       | ineedasername wrote:
       | At first I thought this was going to be some sort of scam, but
       | was pleasantly surprised to find it was using the platform for
       | such an unanticipated reason.
        
       | JaDogg wrote:
       | Shameless plug If you want to run it in a desktop (console app) -
       | https://github.com/JaDogg/noisebox
        
       | yalogin wrote:
       | By definition a white noise podcast cannot play ads. So these
       | have to purely paid podcasts. It's interesting to learn that
       | there are quite a few people that want a different sound or a
       | variety of sounds every night to sleep. That is because I am
       | guessing that is what the podcast provides of value.
        
         | cddotdotslash wrote:
         | The article literally says that they use pre-roll ads to avoid
         | disruption.
        
       | ZeroGravitas wrote:
       | A super nerdy, customisable noise generator:
       | https://mynoise.net/noiseMachines.php
       | 
       | And they have a spotify channel:
       | https://open.spotify.com/artist/1gRJBUyCeihBrgcCtDdEfv
        
         | michaelcampbell wrote:
         | Enough +1's here from me too; I even donate. Great selection,
         | not streaming, wonderful UI.
        
         | i_like_apis wrote:
         | MyNoise has a great app that I have used for years. Very good.
        
           | eatbitseveryday wrote:
           | Don't forget to donate!
        
         | zimpenfish wrote:
         | +1 for mynoise. Extremely handy for public transport, etc.
        
         | brandonmenc wrote:
         | +1 - I have had this app running on my phone near my head while
         | I sleep for many years.
        
       | Andrew_nenakhov wrote:
       | I wonder if one can copyright the white noise and bash everyone
       | else with copyright violation by means of Content ID, demanding
       | royalty payments from them...
        
       | mjfl wrote:
       | just white noise, no colored noise?
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | hp48fan wrote:
         | Its probably pink noise. (In fact, it's physically impossible
         | it is white, you can only get arbitrarily close ;))
        
         | [deleted]
        
       | agomez314 wrote:
       | There's something ironic in being surrounded by so much noise
       | that you listen to "noiseless" noise.
        
         | tenebrisalietum wrote:
         | Wait until you discover there's a noise music genre.
        
           | shard wrote:
           | There's artists like Merzbow, but I find his music non-
           | condusive for sleep.
        
       | FollowingTheDao wrote:
       | Sounds like a healthy economy!
        
         | RGamma wrote:
         | "Colored noise NFTs now worth $100M"
        
       | Ansil849 wrote:
       | Yes, there are some very popular white and ambient noise casts on
       | Spotify. Just like with every other genre, however, for every one
       | creator that's extremely profitable and successful, there are
       | thousands who are not. So if your takeaway is 'huh, I should go
       | throw up some generated noise on Anchor/Spotify', don't expect to
       | make any kind of money from it.
       | 
       | This is as true for white noise as it it for any other genre, so
       | I genuinely don't see the newsworthiness here, other than it's
       | treated as a revelation that people like white noise (for an
       | array of reasons).
        
         | 1vuio0pswjnm7 wrote:
         | The "newsworthiness" is promotion of Spotify.
         | 
         | This is how many "tech" companies that sell advertising
         | services promote their websites. Like a lottery. They do not
         | have to pay out to every person who submits user-generated
         | content,1 but if they pay out to a small number they can use
         | those examples, "winners", to draw others in.
         | 
         | Ideally the "tech" company only wants a limited number of
         | "viral" pages so as to maximise the reach of advertising via
         | those pages. Even if there are 10,000 pages serving white
         | noise, the "tech" company may actively funnel visitors to only
         | a small number, creating ideal conditions for maximum
         | advertising reach.2 (And probably excluding many interesting
         | pages as a result.3) As alluded to in the parent comment, most
         | pages will get too little traffic to generate significant
         | advertising reach and will not pay out "$18K a month".
         | 
         | 1. As with lotteries, there are odds. But unlike lotteries,
         | there is no requirement to publish them. Moreover, the
         | "lottery" here is non-transparent. Traffic could be manipulated
         | by the "tech" company behind-the-scenes and the public would
         | never know the details.
         | 
         | 2. Of course, the company can claim it does not actively
         | manipulate traffic, e.g., through search and/or
         | "recommendations", but rather computers do, through
         | "algorithms", "AI", "magic" or whatever euphemism they choose
         | for the decision-making and computer programming that their
         | employees perform.
         | 
         | 3. Anecdote: Some of the best YouTube and SoundCloud pages I
         | have found, by accessing these websites without using a popular
         | web browser, have very low view numbers. Friends are often
         | intrigued with how I found them. It appears others are getting
         | funneled to the viral crap.
        
       | MisterBastahrd wrote:
       | Oh boy. I can't wait for the white noise copyright lawsuits that
       | are sure to pop up over the next few years.
        
       | havblue wrote:
       | I had an annoying experience attempting to play white noise on an
       | echo speaker for the kids recently: Alexa wouldn't play white
       | noise without an Amazon music premium account. It kept prompting
       | me to pay for the premium service.
       | 
       | Granted I'm pretty sure I can get it to play white noise on a
       | different music service but I think it's ridiculous that they
       | would charge for noise.
        
         | timrichard wrote:
         | I use noise before sleeping due to some mild tinnitus. I tried
         | the Alexa/Spotify approach for a while, but didn't like the
         | gaps between the tracks or anything else that would make me
         | take notice of the background sound.
         | 
         | I ended up repurposing an old Android tablet hooked up to a
         | cheap USB powered speaker bar through the headphone jack of the
         | tablet. It runs the White Noise app, and I go for sea/waves
         | types of sound. I keep the tablet offline in airplane mode with
         | a very short display-off setting. The sound can loop
         | continuously, or you can set it to switch off after a certain
         | time.
         | 
         | It's been really great every night for the last few years. I
         | did research some sort of sleep machine box on Amazon, but it's
         | surprisingly difficult to find something that doesn't want to
         | shine bright status LEDs into your darkened bedroom, or other
         | annoying things.
        
         | PenguinCoder wrote:
         | Under capitalism, anything they can extract money for, they
         | will.
        
           | prepend wrote:
           | I mean, this applies under all other economic systems too. I
           | think no system removes human or organizational greed.
           | 
           | So your comment seems odd to me. What other economic systems
           | would prevent app makers from extracting as much money as
           | they possibly can?
        
             | iaaan wrote:
             | Systems that don't use money? Systems with a lot of
             | regulations? Use your imagination.
        
               | prepend wrote:
               | What systems don't use money? What systems regulate the
               | types of apps on phones and PCs?
               | 
               | I'm using my imagination but outside of Star Trek and
               | other sci-fi, I'm drawing a blank.
               | 
               | Are there any present day, earth economic systems that
               | would result in a different outcome?
               | 
               | BTW, Spotify is Swedish and they are closer to socialism
               | than capitalism.
               | 
               | So the comment I replied to would be as accurate it it
               | said "humans" or something instead of capitalist.
        
         | honkler wrote:
         | you bought alexa, what else did you expect?
        
       | swader999 wrote:
       | This is a symptom of the popularity of the open office concept.
        
       | vsskanth wrote:
       | Has anyone figured out a free or one time payment way to get
       | white noise on Amazon Echo ? It's such a pain that I have to make
       | a looping playlist with white noise and program it into a
       | routine. It mostly works but not reliable
        
       | midislack wrote:
       | Neat.
        
       | chevman wrote:
       | We got a Dohm when my son was born. They generate the noise
       | mechanically and are super soothing:
       | 
       | https://www.amazon.com/Marpac-Classic-White-Noise-Machine/dp...
       | 
       | Realized after we got it that it's what many of our massage
       | therapists have used over the years in their offices.
       | 
       | My son's is 8 years old and going strong, used every night for
       | peaceful sleep :)
        
         | imjared wrote:
         | I just bought one a week ago to deal with noisy neighbors.
         | Can't believe I waited so long. It's also nice to have on a
         | lower setting during the day to drown out general city
         | annoyances
        
       | drorco wrote:
       | Living close to a noisy road, I play white noise on Spotify every
       | night. Usually though I just go with a playlist or one/few
       | particular tracks running in a loop.
       | 
       | Why would anyone go for a podcast rather than a playlist/track?
       | 
       | I also wonder if Spotify somehow adjust the earnings of these
       | creators, as obviously I don't actually listen to their white
       | noise for the whole night.
        
         | ricardobeat wrote:
         | It's an interesting question. Obviously creators will favor
         | podcasts since it allows them to shove ads back in, even for
         | Spotify paid subscribers. But why people chose that over
         | playlists is a mystery.
        
         | bambax wrote:
         | > _Why would anyone go for a podcast rather than a playlist
         | /track?_
         | 
         | I'm not sure but I think tracks have a length limit, and not
         | podcasts. If you want a track that lasts 8 hours as some of
         | these do, then podcasts are the only option.
        
         | aerovistae wrote:
         | "obviously" -- speaking as someone who has run a box fan from
         | sleep til waking every night for over 15 years, I would not say
         | that is obvious at all. I don't need it to fall asleep, but I
         | need it to stay asleep.
        
         | gondo wrote:
         | Searching for "white noise" on Spotify returns podcast as a
         | "Top result". It is simply the first click. Might explain why
         | someone goes for a podcast.
        
           | macNchz wrote:
           | Spotify clearly has set internal goals around podcast
           | adoption and has been pushing them on users for a while (I
           | assume because of the extra margin of playing ads to "ad
           | free" premium subscribers), so it makes sense they'd get some
           | kind of a boost in the results.
        
             | jtbayly wrote:
             | This is a major part of why I cancelled my Spotify
             | subscription.
        
             | wussboy wrote:
             | Yup. Having people listen to a white noise generator as a
             | "podcast" rather than a "playlist" certainly improves their
             | "Look how well our podcasts are doing!" numbers.
             | 
             | Taylor Swift's next album will probably be released as a
             | podcast...
        
         | Michelangelo11 wrote:
         | > Why would anyone go for a podcast rather than a
         | playlist/track?
         | 
         | This is the biggest mystery to me too. Why not just use a
         | 10-hour-long (or whatever) YouTube clip?
        
           | serial_dev wrote:
           | I'm not a white noise podcast listener, so it's just a guess:
           | 
           | Discovering new white noises? Washing machine, hair dryer,
           | forest, see, bar, wind, workplace noises?
           | 
           | For work, I could see that I would like to experiment with
           | different variations of white noise sounds, and see which one
           | helps me the most to concentrate. I'll try out this podcast
           | on Monday.
        
             | mkl wrote:
             | > Discovering new white noises? Washing machine, hair
             | dryer, forest, see, bar, wind, workplace noises?
             | 
             | Those are noise, but not white noise. White noise has all
             | frequencies at equal intensity:
             | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_noise
             | 
             | This is like how white light has all frequencies of
             | (visible) light. There are other "colours" of noise too,
             | like pink noise and blue noise, that have different mixes
             | of frequencies:
             | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colors_of_noise
        
               | serial_dev wrote:
               | I know it is not technically white noise (it's just
               | relaxing noise, really), but I appreciate your comment,
               | noise colors are a fun subject.
               | 
               | My sloppiness came from the fact that, as I have seen, in
               | the YouTube noise video world, 95% of the videos have the
               | "white" label in the title, even if they aren't
               | technically white.
        
           | the_arun wrote:
           | Why not just use an mp3 file? then you don't need internet as
           | well.
        
           | tzs wrote:
           | I was going to point out that if 10 hours isn't enough, just
           | play it back at 3/4 speed, 1/2 speed or 1/4 speed. White
           | noise should still be white noise at different speeds.
           | 
           | But it turns out that slowing down white noise on Google does
           | change it noticeably. Speeding it up does not.
           | 
           | Someone smarter than me could probably infer some things
           | about how YouTube implements speed shifting from that.
        
           | MaxGabriel wrote:
           | Unless something has changed, you have to pay for YouTube
           | premium to play audio while the screen is off.
           | 
           | YouTube is also a worse choice if you want offline access,
           | such as on an airplane or when camping
        
             | shard wrote:
             | > you have to pay for YouTube premium to play audio while
             | the screen is off
             | 
             | There are many sleep videos which have a dark screen for
             | this reason, you can add "dark screen" to the search terms
             | and see the choices. Although it's not quite the same as
             | having the screen off, it's close enough in my experience.
        
             | hardware2win wrote:
             | Try firefox+desktop mode
        
             | paskozdilar wrote:
             | > you have to pay for YouTube premium to play audio while
             | the screen is off
             | 
             | NewPipe (from fdroid repositories) can play audio from
             | YouTube while the screen is off.
        
               | rajamaka wrote:
               | So can Brave browser
        
             | perryizgr8 wrote:
             | You cannot play YouTube on an alexa device either. Spotify
             | has proper integration.
        
             | solarkraft wrote:
             | YouTube, at least on the web version, also stops playing
             | after half an hour or so in the background.
        
             | rightbyte wrote:
             | You can do a "request desktop site" on mobile and it plays
             | with the screen is off. uBlock in Firefox mobile for extra
             | benefit.
        
               | jeromegv wrote:
               | Yes and 95% of users have no idea this feature exists.
        
               | effingwewt wrote:
               | Firefox mobile actually has an add-on specifically to
               | play youtube and other videos with the screen off.
               | 
               | https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/video-
               | backgro...
        
         | mongol wrote:
         | If the first source of white noise you find is a podcast, does
         | it matter? Personally I have found some good sources at
         | Youtube.
        
         | lawlorino wrote:
         | > Why would anyone go for a podcast rather than a
         | playlist/track?
         | 
         | I'm also curious about this. My guess is the monetisation is
         | different and podcasts are way more lucrative. - tracks are
         | paid by plays straight from Spotify but (I think) podcasts
         | instead rely on advertisements.
         | 
         | From the article
         | 
         | > Anchor manages the commercial load and pays Moore $12.25 per
         | thousand listens
         | 
         | which works out to ~$0.012 per listen
         | 
         | And from the top result on Google for "how much does spotify
         | pay per stream"
         | 
         | > $0.0033 to $0.0054. That's how much money Spotify paid
         | artists (through their rights holders) per stream in 2021,
         | according to Insider. That means it would take roughly 250
         | streams for an artist to earn $1.
         | 
         | Also maybe the advertising value varies considerably with the
         | number of podcast listeners and the specific advertisers
         | partnered with, whereas the track stream amounts are probably
         | pretty static.
        
           | hahajk wrote:
           | My guess would be that ads are incompatible with white noise
           | use cases. If the white noise "podcast" inserted ads, I would
           | guess that people would find a different place to get white
           | noise.
        
             | PebblesRox wrote:
             | From the article, some are subscription, some play ads at
             | the beginning, and the last creator featured has chosen not
             | to include ads even though he knows he's leaving money on
             | the table in doing so.
             | 
             | "Moore and his white noise team... offer a subscription
             | plan. But most people listen to the free, ad-supported
             | version. Because Moore doesn't want to interrupt the
             | calming aura of his show, he opts to include only pre-roll
             | ads."
             | 
             | "Reed, who is something of a white noise purist, knows he
             | could make good money with advertisements. But he doesn't
             | include them because he worries the sound of commerce would
             | disturb his audience's restful slumber.
             | 
             | 'It's embarrassing to say how much money I would be
             | making,' he said."
        
           | smugma wrote:
           | I'm surprised Spotify doesn't have home grown white noise
           | sounds, and then pushes people to those "songs", makes them
           | short with 0s hapless playback, and then pays itself rather
           | than a music label.
        
             | smugma wrote:
             | Apple Music Sleep is its own genre:
             | https://music.apple.com/us/curator/apple-music-
             | sleep/1558257...
        
       | raesene9 wrote:
       | One thing I didn't realise till recently, is you don't need
       | spotify to generate white noise if you have an iPhone/iPad, as
       | it's an in-built function under accessibility --> Audio/Visual
       | and background sounds.
        
         | al_borland wrote:
         | I have a 'LectroFan, it's just a little box with a bunch of
         | fan/white noises in it. From what I remember it generates them
         | vs just playing an audio clip on a loop. I prefer it to running
         | something on my phone for 8 hours at a time.
         | 
         | I also have a mini one for when I travel, which has a battery
         | and can double as a BT speaker. I do sometimes forget this when
         | I travel, especially for short trips, so the iPhone feature is
         | a good reminder. I think I heard about it before, but without
         | using it, it's easy to forget.
        
         | jedberg wrote:
         | This is awesome! Is it bad that my mind immediately went to how
         | to use it to prank someone? Turn on white noise and then turn
         | on "only when unlocked" and set it to a really low volume.
         | 
         | Drive someone nuts trying to figure out why it seems like they
         | hear a noise every time they unlock their phone.
         | 
         | I won't do this though because I'm pretty sure it would be a
         | violation of the Geneva conventions.
        
           | [deleted]
        
         | kibwen wrote:
         | Or if you have any device with a web browser, since there are a
         | zillion free sites for generating white noise. Here's an
         | arbitrary top search result which appears to be a highly
         | configurable noise generator:
         | https://mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/whiteNoiseGenerator.php
        
           | app4soft wrote:
           | And here is generated "Noise Colors"[0] album on Spotify.[1]
           | 
           | [0] https://mynoise.net/Albums/view.php?album=NoiseColors
           | 
           | [1] https://open.spotify.com/album/4nxNOcgs2BNBYL7k7ywR5n
        
           | jbmny wrote:
           | MyNoise is a really high quality, well maintained website run
           | by a single person. He even goes out and does his own field
           | recordings. I highly recommend it.
        
             | akx wrote:
             | ... With microphones he builds himself, too.
             | https://mynoise.net/microphones.php
        
               | car wrote:
               | And really cheap, just $650!
        
             | b3morales wrote:
             | +1 There are associated mobile apps as well, that are not
             | the prettiest, but provide access to the whole library.
             | Really a gem.
        
           | moneywoes wrote:
           | Convenience is likely huge
        
           | chias wrote:
           | I love mynoise.net! Am a very happy monthly donor. My two
           | main use cases:
           | 
           | 1. mixing "white rain" with "88 keys" to focus at work
           | 
           | 2. downloaded an hour-long "white rain" to use as background
           | noise for my newborn
        
         | INTPenis wrote:
        
         | brianzelip wrote:
         | Hmmm, what iOS version? V14 doesn't seem to have background
         | sounds u det the Audio/Visual menu.
        
           | CamelRocketFish wrote:
           | iOS15
        
         | gyan wrote:
         | FFmpeg has a colored noise generator.
         | http://www.ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-filters.html#anoisesrc
        
         | michaelbuck wrote:
         | I never expected to find a feature like that in the settings
         | menu of an operating system. Is there any history to this?
         | How'd a white noise generator end up in the official Apple
         | accessibility settings?
         | 
         | The idea of having a setting that makes my phone emit
         | continuous noise until I turn it off is absolutely wild to me.
        
           | askafriend wrote:
           | I think you can ask Siri to play it for you which is probably
           | how most people discover it.
           | 
           | My guess is the accessibility setting is for people that
           | can't use Siri for whatever reason?
        
         | HidyBush wrote:
         | Another day, another unknown Apple feature buried down in menus
         | that has just made me uninstall a dedicated app
        
           | yborg wrote:
           | There are a lot of useful features lumped under
           | 'Accessibility' because I guess Apple couldn't figure out
           | what to do with them.
        
             | azemetre wrote:
             | White sounds are useful for people with cognitive
             | disabilities. Seems like the right location to me FWIW.
        
         | dontbenebby wrote:
         | Thank you for this, great way to "keep things offline", a skill
         | that the youth are rapidly losing.
        
           | thatguy0900 wrote:
           | Odd thing to blame the youth for. Losing, or having stolen
           | from them? The people on this site who make these things are
           | the ones making those decisions, if you expect a 14 year old
           | to take hard ethical stances on theoretical privacy rights
           | you are crazy.
        
             | dylan604 wrote:
             | Losing could be read as not from something they did
             | themselves, but I lose the ability to do something if it
             | has been taken away from me.
        
             | dontbenebby wrote:
        
           | languageserver wrote:
           | to be fair I have seen more people loose precious photographs
           | from film than from iCloud
        
         | chucknelson wrote:
         | Woah, that is news to me!
         | 
         | What's strange is that iOS gives you no indication of where
         | that sound is coming from...I guess I expected to be able to
         | pause it somehow. Interesting, though!
        
           | CamelRocketFish wrote:
           | Turning it off is pausing it as it's noise and not a song.
        
         | winternett wrote:
         | I've worked my A$$ of literally for over 5 years now to put
         | music on Spotify, through out those 5 years, I have about 30
         | songs up there, All in all I've probably only gotten about
         | 1,400 streams generating about $20... I'm lucky I taught myself
         | web development and project management, because with all the
         | promise the Internet had when I was going through college, it
         | seems that the only actual opportunity is in creating web sites
         | and apps.
         | 
         | Fairness is simply not possible on these platforms, you can
         | have the most polished product and sit totally ignored because
         | of all the scams and schemes, I can't imagine how many people
         | who don't have alternative opportunities like I did that are
         | literally dying just trying to get a chance to be heard on a
         | fiasco operation like this that literally and happily pays
         | others to do absolutely nothing, while they charge creators for
         | subscriptions and ads.
         | 
         | It's a really frickin bleak indicator as to the value of human
         | labor going into the future... If the people who aren't
         | providing value constantly win over the people that strive to,
         | everything falls apart, and we'll end up in a total scheme
         | economy.
         | 
         | As valid creators, we all need to back off and stop posting
         | anything at all on social media and big platforms to highlight
         | the total crap that is popular on the platform. A much better
         | way is to create and maintain our own small independent sites
         | and to link to each other more.
         | 
         | You can literally run a fan or leave a radio on a dead
         | frequency to get white noise... You don't need a streaming
         | service for that. This is ridiculous, and the article only
         | serves to promote this brand of fraud. It's not capitalism,
         | it's simply fraud from many facets.
        
           | nyolfen wrote:
           | fraud? it sounds like your music just isnt very good
        
             | dinkleberg wrote:
             | Even if their music is good it's hard to get discovered in
             | a world of millions (billions?) of tracks. Unless you're
             | lucky, you'll need to do some marketing of some sort to
             | pull in listeners.
        
               | winternett wrote:
               | Agreed...
               | 
               | Marketing is indeed a necessity, but Social Media was
               | developed under the premise of providing free "social"
               | marketing for artists that aren't profiting from their
               | work yet... These platforms have undermined that now into
               | requiring absolutely all artists to pay for ads in order
               | to be viewed, which is completely contradicting their
               | original EULAs... Spotify in a way is a social platform,
               | but more-so it is also a marketing platform that despite
               | allowing people to promote, also creates a dynamic where
               | success is tiered and artificially hard-limited by their
               | algorithms.
               | 
               | Content displayed on the front pages of sites like
               | Spotify, YouTube, Reddit (etc.), get the most views and
               | plays. These sites intentionally only have front pages,
               | with pre-designated featured content. That means that
               | only the artists that land there get the lion share of
               | the revenue from those sites... They provide little to no
               | relative potential for success or visibility to the
               | majority of artists that contribute content that they
               | benefit from, and that makes the entire industry a
               | pyramid scheme.
               | 
               | Unknown and unsponsored artists cannot succeed in this
               | model, and even if they do somehow find an opportunity,
               | they are often subject to predatory contracts from record
               | labels and the larger industry as well. It's really
               | insane what goes on behind the curtains.
        
             | winternett wrote:
             | What kind of music do you like?
        
           | Cpoll wrote:
           | > If the people who aren't providing value constantly win
           | over the people that strive to
           | 
           | Not that I don't sympathize with your struggles, but aren't
           | the people who are creating background noise tracks doing
           | exactly that, providing value? The article talks about tracks
           | with natural noise or ambient noises, so it's not exactly the
           | same as turning a fan on. I can't see how this is a scam.
           | 
           | Also from the article, there's a team of five making some of
           | these, so it's not even accurate to label them as low effort
           | (though I'll admit they're probably admin and marketing
           | roles...).
           | 
           | > I have about 30 songs up there, All in all I've probably
           | only gotten about 1,400 streams
           | 
           | That's only 46 listens per song. That suggests to me that
           | you're not self-promoting, or doing something wrong. Even if
           | there weren't white noise tracks on Spotify with 100k
           | listens, there are millions of songs with <100 listens; even
           | if the Spotify exposure algorithms were "fair" you wouldn't
           | get any more listens than you already have.
        
             | winternett wrote:
             | You didn't have to take it in a personal insult direction
             | friend. It's such a common response to an issue you really
             | do not understand.
             | 
             | I'll refrain from salty comments concerning the quality of
             | my work because you're already sold on the ideal that the
             | platform is totally ethical, despite many well selling
             | artists saying the same things I have numerous times.
             | 
             | The platforms exist to promote artists, they do not do that
             | at all.
             | 
             | It's really not for me to defend the merits of my work in
             | response to expressing my experience on the platform...
             | It's really not for you to insult someone you know nothing
             | about, who says they've worked hard. You should really
             | think about that... I have solid success in many other
             | places than Spotify, and that's why I dedicate my time
             | there and not to Spotify.
        
               | hetspookjee wrote:
               | I find it odd that you seem rather adamant on the skill
               | that goes into your own music, yet seem to disregard the
               | noise genre as a whole and call it unfair that it gets
               | that much attention. Indeed the world is not fair, but to
               | discredit other peoples work that a lot of others seem to
               | appreciate seems as a moot point.
               | 
               | I listen to a lot of music, mostly noise / ambient /
               | drone and do so mostly during work, so the hours stack up
               | quite rapidly. Per the Spotify model this is quite
               | beneficial for the artist. But I am rather picky in the
               | noise I appreciate so in the end it's not that many songs
               | I keep. Most I visit once and turn off halfway. So I
               | definitely wouldn't want to call it easy to create good
               | ambient / noise.
               | 
               | Anyway the other day I saw a YouTube video with 116M
               | views of 9 minutes long that showed hands going into
               | slime. Now compared with a video from say Carfection or
               | PBS EON, that's quite odd than.
        
           | donthellbanme wrote:
           | I worked at a record store in the 90's. It was right after
           | cd's took over. I think we had 1 record in the store.
           | 
           | I was shocked over the amount of tranquility music we sold.
           | Tranquility was nature sounds. I didn't know about white
           | noise back then, but we probally had it. It was basically
           | music produced cheaply that supposedly relazed people.
           | 
           | I got it. People are stressed. Did listening to calming
           | nature sounds help me--no, but listening to AM radio on a
           | boring station does calm me down, or keeps negative thoughts
           | away.
           | 
           | My sleepy time music was Classic music. Pretty much
           | everything.
           | 
           | Even then becoming a musician was as hard as becomming an
           | artist. There was just no formula besides 1 in a million
           | talent, like Elvis, or just sheer luck, and that meant
           | exposure.
           | 
           | (I am thinking about leaving an old iphone strapped to a tree
           | to record creek sounds tomorrow, and plop it on Spotify under
           | "Songs to calm. Natural, and organic music."), or never leave
           | my house and produce it digitally?)
        
         | drorco wrote:
         | Nice. Anyway to create a quick shortcut to this functionality?
         | It's pretty deep inside the settings menu.
        
           | alexcnwy wrote:
           | Yes, you can set it to turn on when you triple tap the right
           | button.
        
           | frou_dh wrote:
           | Tap the ear icon ("Hearing") in Control Centre. I can't
           | remember whether that icon is included by default though.
        
           | kejaed wrote:
           | Yes, you can add it to Control Center
           | 
           | https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT212775
        
             | quartesixte wrote:
             | As someone who suffers from a rather high sensitivity to
             | noise (particularly noise I do not have a control over)
             | this is game changing and will 100x my quality of life
        
           | [deleted]
        
           | [deleted]
        
         | xwdv wrote:
         | This comment could cause lost revenue for these people. Take it
         | down.
        
         | mft_ wrote:
         | Thanks - really good to discover this!
         | 
         | Interesting to note the size of the samples that Apple is
         | using:
         | 
         | * Balanced noise: 1.8MB
         | 
         | * Bright noise: 1.8MB
         | 
         | * Dark noise: 1.8MB
         | 
         | * Ocean: 62.4MB
         | 
         | * Rain: 63.7MB
         | 
         | * Stream: 72.1MB
         | 
         | That's a lot of effort to ensure your background water sounds
         | are (presumably) high fidelity and non-repeating!
        
           | andrepd wrote:
           | If you're interested in high quality background noise, I'll
           | plug this absolutely _amazing_ site: mynoise.net
        
           | amelius wrote:
           | Doesn't the finite size imply that they are in fact
           | repeating?
        
             | natly wrote:
             | In this case they're probably recordings, but you could
             | imagine that they'd be procedurally generated in which case
             | not necessarily. A call to `Math.random()` is a finite
             | length 'file' but won't repeat.
        
               | aftbit wrote:
               | A call to Math.random() will in fact repeat eventually.
               | The backing PRNG has a finite period.
        
               | MichaelBurge wrote:
               | The human brain is also finite, so even a true infinite
               | random sequence would give the listener finitely many
               | states.
               | 
               | So it doesn't matter whether a sequence is finite or not.
        
               | sudosysgen wrote:
               | It may be partly affected by fully random effects such
               | thermal noise, meaning there will be no period.
        
               | shhsshs wrote:
               | Yeah, after it loops in several hundred years and I hear
               | a pattern I've already heard, I'll be _really_ annoyed!
        
             | PartiallyTyped wrote:
             | Not necessarily.
             | 
             | In theory one can construct a chaotic (this is a precise
             | definition) function with very little data that could
             | replicate that class of noise with finite data.
             | 
             | Infinite lists are also another beautiful construct in
             | lazily evaluated languages.
        
               | Retric wrote:
               | Not at a fixed rate with finite computing power or finite
               | memory. Essentially a fixed algorithm needs ever
               | increasing or infinite levels of precision in it's
               | calculations to avoid loops.
        
               | mejutoco wrote:
               | Can prime numbers be used as lengths/periods so that
               | there is no perceptible repetitions.
               | 
               | I saw this trick and used it to animate different parts
               | of an animation (each part every p frames, where p is a
               | prime) and it works very well.
        
               | karmakaze wrote:
               | So like emitting 1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0, ...?
               | 
               | Doesn't need much to generate. It would need a wide
               | counter but a MB is a lot of bits.
        
               | jacobolus wrote:
               | > _Not at a fixed rate with finite computing power or
               | finite memory. Essentially a fixed algorithm needs ever
               | increasing or infinite levels of precision in its
               | calculations to avoid loops._
               | 
               | If you start talking about true "infinity" then sure. You
               | need to store enough state (or if you like, receive some
               | input) for your computed output to be unique. And
               | counting to infinity takes infinite amounts of memory.
               | Infinity is not accessible to humans, and is best thought
               | of as a thought experiment rather than a part of
               | empirical reality.
               | 
               | But if you do 44kHz samples, a counter stored in a 32-bit
               | integer that ticks up once per sample is enough state to
               | give you all unique [i.e. non-looping] samples for about
               | a day. A 64-bit integer will give you all unique samples
               | for 13 million years. With a 75-bit integer you can get
               | all unique samples for longer than the history of the
               | universe so far.
               | 
               | So in practice, the "increasing" amount of memory
               | required doesn't (necessarily) grow fast enough to worry
               | about.
        
             | JJMcJ wrote:
             | Good ones are loopable so there is no discontinuity when
             | they repeat.
             | 
             | And the size of those files implies they are probably
             | minutes in length, at the very least, so you probably don't
             | notice the repetition.
        
             | throwoutway wrote:
             | Yes. I can detect repetition of ocean "white noise" if the
             | length is too short. But a long enough track is just fine
        
       | irthomasthomas wrote:
       | I wonder if there's a market for bernoulli noise generated by the
       | quantum vacuum?
       | 
       | https://qrng.anu.edu.au/random-bernoulli-noise/
        
       | telesilla wrote:
       | A plug for my favorite noise sleep aid, Celestial Noise. A very
       | warm noise with a special quality that I find so much nicer than
       | noise generators, though I recommend downloading so you skip
       | being woken up by ads. The comments are a bonus.
       | 
       | https://youtu.be/wzjWIxXBs_s
        
       | vicwhiten wrote:
       | Almost sounds like what Vulfpeck did with the Sleepify album back
       | in the earlier days of Spotify, while serving more of a purpose
       | than "just give this band some money"
       | 
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleepify
        
         | amelius wrote:
         | > The album was pulled by Spotify on April 26, 2014, citing
         | violations of the service's content policies.
         | 
         | Regulation by companies is so refreshing compared to being
         | regulated by the government!
        
       | Shadonototra wrote:
       | "farmers feeding the world are struggling to make a living"
       | 
       | "random dude can retire in peace by uploading a white noise on
       | spotify"
        
         | karaterobot wrote:
         | The farmers didn't earn the $18k, and splitting it between them
         | all wouldn't change anything for them. As ridiculous as it is
         | to sell white noise for a living, it's a logical consequence of
         | the kind of world that allows so many of us here on HN to make
         | a living selling little bits of symbolic logic arranged in
         | patterns.
        
         | codethief wrote:
         | To be fair, there are millions of farmers around the world and
         | only a handful of white noise producers. Moreover, each white
         | noise producer seems to be serving hundreds of thousands of
         | people. Economy of scale is a thing.
        
           | booleandilemma wrote:
           | That's enough HN for me today.
        
             | UmbertoNoEco wrote:
             | Expect being flagged in 3 ... 2...
             | 
             | Conform, consume, follow or ...simply die.
             | 
             | That's our era's motto.
        
           | qolop wrote:
           | >>> "To be fair"
           | 
           | You're joking right? It's not fair. It's capitalism.
        
         | dwighttk wrote:
         | Get back to me when this continues into the guy's retirement.
        
         | tenebrisalietum wrote:
         | at least they aren't starving though?
         | 
         | also farming machines make some pretty nice noise so maybe they
         | should get it on it.
        
         | 8note wrote:
         | You're comparing the p99 to the p25.
         | 
         | Farming has its wealthy members too
        
         | hp48fan wrote:
         | Ya, but I wouldn't be surprised if half the white noise guys
         | are watching farming videos or woodworking videos to calm their
         | anxiety at night.
         | 
         | Clearly, Im projecting.
        
         | irthomasthomas wrote:
         | Who are these poor farmers? All the farmers around me are
         | millionaires.
        
           | honkler wrote:
           | i heard bill gates is a farmer too these days
        
         | relativ575 wrote:
         | This is Exhibit A of how awful social media can be: low effort,
         | wrong, lack of nuance comment that invokes fake outrage and
         | aims at stirring emotion from an wound up audience
        
         | arvinsim wrote:
         | When trying to find out what society really values, don't
         | listen to what society says.
         | 
         | Rather look at who they actually pay more.
        
           | tgv wrote:
           | You seem to be under the impression that society values the
           | likes of Bernie Madoff and Elizabeth Holmes.
        
             | kweinber wrote:
             | Society values investment strategies and medical
             | innovations. If society finds out it has been defrauded,
             | then society tries to reclaim its investments and punish
             | the fraudsters.
        
               | derbOac wrote:
               | Not disagreeing with what you wrote, but the word "fraud"
               | itself implies a distinction between perceived and actual
               | value.
        
               | williamtrask wrote:
               | Society sounds very cranky
        
             | wongarsu wrote:
             | To be fair, if societal values are determined by capital
             | allocation then the values are almost entirely determined
             | by the top 10%.
        
             | 8note wrote:
             | Society did at some point, but I think society would pay
             | more for a loaf of bread than a Madoff share today
        
           | slibhb wrote:
           | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marginalism
        
       | Hackbraten wrote:
       | > Moore and his white noise team -- yes, he has five employees
       | and contractors
       | 
       | I assume their duties are mostly mundane things, such as
       | accounting, marketing, vendor relations, and app (store)
       | maintenance.
       | 
       | But what I really like to imagine is that those five employees
       | are cryptographers, and that their duty is to painstakingly work
       | on new secure white noise generation algorithms in order to push
       | the envelope in the white noise industry.
        
         | ineedasername wrote:
         | > _But what I really like to imagine is that those five
         | employees are cryptographers_
         | 
         | Or may NSA workers running the modern equivalent of number
         | stations.
        
         | andrewallbright wrote:
         | I like to imagine white noise listeners would be like wine
         | connoisseurs in your scenario.
         | 
         | "Mmmmmm, this one features a nice static base noise livivified
         | by a hint of perlin noise."
        
           | ineedasername wrote:
           | "Yes yes, of course that's a nice balance, but I do rather
           | prefer mine to have just a hint of oak leaf crackle, like
           | those that remain at the end of the Fall"
        
           | hetspookjee wrote:
           | Well, honestly there's a world of difference between the
           | noise generated by Pete Swanson versus Merzbow for example. I
           | can't handle Merzbow at all, but Pete Swanson's A&Ox0 I truly
           | enjoy. For example, my most listend song over 2021 (>60
           | times) is Limited Space by an alias of Pete Swanson; Yellow
           | Swans.
           | 
           | Than there's a track like Treetop Drive 3 from Deathprod that
           | you truly notice when it starts, and when it ends. Other than
           | that it is phenomal in drowning out everything on the other
           | end.
           | 
           | Windy & Carl also make some great tracks, one of my favorites
           | being Antarctica. I've noticed while sharing these tracks
           | that it is a very personnel thing, so odds being that you
           | share my favorites are remarkebly small, though I do find it
           | a very interesting genre to explore and wonder about - what
           | makes this good versus the other?
           | 
           | With less noise and a seeming one-off is Virginia Waveform
           | from Pan-America, though quire more melodic already
           | 
           | I have a curated playlist of noise tracks that I very
           | frequently get back to. Here's my playlist for anyone that is
           | interested:
           | https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0srqN53JGNoqEN3vzoviJU
        
             | acchow wrote:
             | > Limited Space by an alias of Pete Swanson; Yellow Swans
             | 
             | This is my first time listening to this "genre" of music
             | and I love it!
        
             | gwern wrote:
             | https://xkcd.com/915/
        
             | renewiltord wrote:
             | This is fascinating. A whole genre I cannot appreciate at
             | all and yet a genuine fan. Amazing.
        
               | hetspookjee wrote:
               | I find it fascinating as well, especially how I can
               | scroll through a recommended ambient playlist provided by
               | Spotify and only pick 1-2 songs from the lot. And on
               | further exploration I often think to myself - damn, this
               | is some good ambient, let me add it to my list - only to
               | find I've added it already. Kinda proving to me that it's
               | not just circumstantial appreciation but something that
               | stays for a while I guess.
        
             | bbu wrote:
             | I expected a playlist of Rick astley songs. I guess there's
             | a whole form of ,,music" I am not aware of.
        
             | kiritanpo wrote:
             | Wow, this is the first time I see someone with musical
             | tastes so close to mine. Like you said, a lot of this music
             | feels very personal. So this feels weird now, like meeting
             | a long lost twin. I could have made that playlist.
             | 
             | I was never really able to pinpoint what makes this music
             | good to me. It has to be a mix of the actual sound, texture
             | and repetitive nature of the drone.
             | 
             | Have you heard the collaboration between Fennesz and Jim
             | O'Rourke? https://christianfenneszjimorourke.bandcamp.com/t
             | rack/i-just...
        
               | hetspookjee wrote:
               | Ohhh this must be marvelous and can't wait to check it
               | out! I really appreciate this tune from Fennesz - Tom but
               | have a really hard time with both the brevity of the
               | tune, and finding similar styles.
               | 
               | https://open.spotify.com/track/2iHvSdltCRLlCVYAjRxLNj
               | 
               | On another note. Do you know the project The Dead Texan?
               | its another alias from the artist behind Stars of the Lid
               | and it's an album that just seems to get better with
               | every listen.
               | 
               | Especially the Aegina Airlines is very evoking, though
               | not directly up the alley of Noise I'd say.
        
           | [deleted]
        
           | gebruikersnaam wrote:
           | It's only white noise if it's generated by the Sennheiser
           | algorithm, otherwise it's just random static.
        
             | m0llusk wrote:
             | The Haters usually take a microphone connected to a
             | distortion box and scrape it around the surface of a
             | textured plastic suitcase. The result is clearly white
             | noise and easily differentiated from the all too common
             | pink noise one tends to hear nowadays.
        
         | bob1029 wrote:
         | To be fair, there are a large variety of "noises" in this arena
         | that people have certain preferences for over others.
         | 
         | Developing an algorithm that generates something that sounds
         | _very_ good to humans requires a bit more than simple math and
         | entropy.
         | 
         | "White noise" is just the entrance to a very large rabbit hole.
        
           | greatquux wrote:
           | I'm listening to Metal Machine Music right now , feedback may
           | be another rabbit hole next door
        
         | gumby wrote:
         | This does suggest a moderately interesting application: a sleep
         | tracker could provide feedback to selectively alter the
         | composition of the background noise to improve sleep quality.
         | It could vary the background noise based on your sleep phase
         | and other ambient noise (sirens, pets, etc). If you wear a
         | tracker while awake, such as an apple watch, it could even
         | figure out how to start based on your activity level just
         | before going to bed.
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | bryanrasmussen wrote:
         | >new secure white noise generation algorithms in order to push
         | the envelope in the white noise industry.
         | 
         | written in BrainFuck I assume
         | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31585371
        
         | saagarjha wrote:
         | Well, I only listen to white noise that fills buffers that are
         | allocated using new and lovingly filled with an artisanal
         | memcpy.
        
           | mellavora wrote:
           | WTF? Doesn't anyone just reverse bias a transistor anymore?
           | Who needs memory?
        
           | afandian wrote:
           | I hope you zero the memory first! Otherwise you can hear the
           | ghosting on good headphones.
        
             | bigyikes wrote:
             | Ghosting problems are why I refuse to listen to anything on
             | machines with RAM older than DDR4.
        
               | thematrixturtle wrote:
               | Surely you mean newer? The quantum tunneling artifacts on
               | modern dense memory are simply ghastly, which why I stick
               | to hand-wound magnetic core memory.
        
               | systemvoltage wrote:
               | Expert here (degree in engineering), Analog core wounded
               | memory or gtfo.
        
               | afandian wrote:
               | I guess that comes at the significant penalty of lower
               | bit rate. Still, it does sound warmer.
               | 
               | (Seriously, I wonder what the rate would be?)
        
       | dontbenebby wrote:
       | How does this make sense when I also hear many artists hate it
       | because they get very little per play? Or is it because people
       | play it continuously on a loop in ways you wouldn't play EDM or
       | rap that's 3-10 min?
       | 
       | (Paywalled so difficult to respond to more than the headline.)
        
       | anon25783 wrote:
       | the infamous podcast Cum Town is making more than that with
       | nothing but homophobia and racial slurs
        
       | Schiphol wrote:
       | if you use linux you can listen to my brown-noise podcast by
       | typing this in your favorite terminal emulator:
       | play -n synth brownnoise.
       | 
       | Please do a thumbs-up gesture if you like it.
        
         | amlib wrote:
         | You may also go trough the experience of being aboard the
         | enterprise as Captain Picard with the following on your
         | favorite terminal emulator:                   play -n synth
         | brownnoise lowpass 150
        
         | dylan604 wrote:
         | Does your brown-noise generate brown-notes? You might not get
         | as many thumbs-up terminal gestures if you do.
        
         | robmsmt wrote:
         | ... and please hit subscribe. Now a message from our sponsor.
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | avian wrote:
         | Hah, good tip. I've been using Sox for ages and it never
         | occurred to me that it can generate noise as well.
        
       | fideloper wrote:
       | Hey, I've used this show to act as my own sound machine when
       | trying to nap! Some nights are the kids are terrible sleepers, so
       | my wife and I take turns napping during the day while the other
       | watches the kids. As you might imagine, they're loud - the white
       | noise helps block out the extra noise.
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | formvoltron wrote:
       | If Spotify does not create their own white noise channels then I
       | certainly would not be happy being a Spotify investor.
        
         | bluedino wrote:
         | It's built into the iPhone now
        
         | mizzao wrote:
         | Analogically... if Spotify did not create their own pop music
         | you would not be a happy Spotify investor either?
         | 
         | Spotify is the platform, not the artist. They make money as
         | long as people are publishing content. They don't _need_ do
         | make anything of their own...
        
           | solarkraft wrote:
           | Right, but they _do_ publish their own Playlists and, like
           | Netflix, could theoretically cover some low hanging fruit
           | pretty cheaply.
        
             | paulluuk wrote:
             | The problem with Netflix, Disney+, HBO, etc etc is that a
             | lot of people are going back to pirating video content or
             | abusing their "family" accounts, all because each platform
             | insists on having exclusive content. If this trend
             | continues, I think we'll see a more and more dramatic loss
             | for all video streaming services as piracy becomes
             | mainstream again (as it was for decades).
             | 
             | I don't think that the music streaming platforms should
             | follow their example, but instead should all offer as much
             | content as possible and simply compete for listening
             | experience, not content. I know that there is already a
             | battle going on for exclusive music content, but I'd say
             | about 90% of music can be found on all the major music
             | streaming platforms right now.
        
               | honkler wrote:
               | imagine paying when you can get things for free lol
        
       | jaggederest wrote:
       | Just moved back to the countryside, this article makes me think
       | about hooking up some microphones in the woods and catching the
       | progression of birds into frogs into rain sounds into birds that
       | happens every night. Certainly a big part of why I moved out of
       | the city, and you could have a new "episode" every day.
        
         | Balgair wrote:
         | >this article makes me think about hooking up some microphones
         | in the woods and catching the progression of birds into frogs
         | into rain sounds into birds that happens every night...and you
         | could have a new "episode" every day.
         | 
         | I absolutely would listen to that nearly every work day.
         | 
         | Pre-pandemic, I would use 'Forrest Bathing' YT channels mixed
         | in with my favorite music while in the office. The longer the
         | sample of ambient sounds, the better, as I wouldn't have to
         | pause or restart the video. I've kept this up since WFH
         | started.
         | 
         | After months of daily listening, I found that a lot of 'Forrest
         | Bathing' channels would use soundboards, would loop an hour
         | long sample for 10+ hours, would splice in other samples from
         | other places (I could tell from the bird species' calls), etc.
         | 
         | The authentic, 10+ hour long, sampled from a single spot,
         | aurally interesting, no edits, no soundboards, 'Forrest
         | Bathing' videos are very rare [0] and I wish there would be
         | more of them.
         | 
         | The key would be to find aurally interesting areas around you.
         | I've found that the fauna tend to be most active crepuscularly,
         | meaning that the middle of the video can be a bit boring,
         | especially for night videos. Day videos can have animal
         | husbandry to fill in the gaps during mid-day.
         | 
         | Part of the allure of the videos is the 'romance' of the
         | associated visual components. If you can set a video camera up
         | along with the high quality audio, that's just golden. Even
         | though I'm almost never looking at the video, just knowing that
         | I am actually listening to the real sounds of the Yukon, or the
         | Amafi Coast, or a small English hedge, etc, it really makes it
         | for me and makes me feel like that small little box I'm in
         | isn't so bad, that I am actually traveling the world a bit
         | still, that my life is richer and more 'real' in some small
         | way.
         | 
         | [0] I've found a few channels, and even then, the 'good' videos
         | are very few. Yes, I am super picky with this, I can't help it.
        
           | bambax wrote:
           | During lockdown I toyed with generating insect sounds with
           | synthesizers. Never thought of making them into long tracks.
           | Will look into it now.
           | 
           | It would be the opposite of what you're after, though, as
           | it's completely artificial.
           | 
           | But! It doesn't loop. I can make it of any length, and with
           | some astute randomization it never produces the exact same
           | sequence twice.
        
           | synu wrote:
           | Can you share links to some of the good ones you've found?
        
             | ryankrage77 wrote:
             | Here's a few I like:
             | 
             | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6X-8J485XEM
             | 
             | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_WiBGYi-rU
             | 
             | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-c1QNq-D7E
        
           | wussboy wrote:
           | I would be interested in some links as well.
        
         | s5300 wrote:
         | You could pair it with a "wooden forest megaphone"
         | 
         | Have a microphone at the point of amplification
         | 
         | https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/listen-nature-through-...
         | 
         | I was trying to find a picture of these where two of them are
         | butted up against each other & you lie down inbetween them,
         | sort of like a pair of headphones. SEO made it so I couldn't do
         | that, so this article is the best we get.
         | 
         | Edit: ooh, found close to what I was after.
         | 
         | https://imgur.com/a/BUAexSV
         | 
         | Shit. Somebody on HN with the resources may be able to make
         | decent money with this idea. Remember me if you do :)
        
         | joe-collins wrote:
         | I'm just gonna leave a comment so I can check in on this idea
         | later.
        
         | mgdlbp wrote:
         | _field recording_ is the term for looking into doing this
        
           | jaggederest wrote:
           | Thank you, that's a great keyword set to start with.
        
         | hetspookjee wrote:
         | BioSphere's - Hilvarenbeek Recoring sound quite a bit like
         | that, you might appreciate it! Also Windy & Carl has this
         | amazing tune "Forest Trails:
         | 
         | BioSphere:
         | https://open.spotify.com/album/28VBLIMroxoxDWx84oegfx
         | Windy&Carl:
         | https://open.spotify.com/track/2Gvy4DbDM6NQ5rUJDljXz4
        
       | zmibes wrote:
       | For my uses there is always too much additional nonsense with
       | noise apps. Here's 5 lines of Faust that satisfies all my noise
       | requirements (a noise generator and a lp filter with simple UI)
       | you can export as ab android app or to various other platforms:
       | https://faustide.grame.fr/?autorun=1&voices=0&name=exfaust0&...
        
         | bmitc wrote:
         | > For my uses there is always too much additional nonsense with
         | noise apps.
         | 
         | Do you have examples? I have been decently happy when I have
         | needed to find one, even free ones.
         | 
         | Your link doesn't play and also requests access to my
         | microphone.
        
           | zmibes wrote:
           | Try a different browser.
           | 
           | Examples: type sleep noise into the android Play store and
           | the top few. Waves, bird noises, rain etc. All useless to me
           | - just want masking noise to block other stuff out.
        
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