A sound featuring 30 seconds of white noise has thus far been worth the same as an artist’s original music track, creating a “revenue opportunity for noise uploaders well beyond their contribution to listeners,” according to Spotify, and creating frustration throughout the music industry. Until now, creators of functional sounds have been able to game Spotify’s streaming system to maximize revenue with minimal effort. The functional genre includes nature sounds, white noise, sound effects and silence recordings. “Obviously white noise is very different from ‘Bohemian Rhapsody,’ but it, currently under this model, is paid the same,” Marina Guz, chief commercial officer at Endel, an AI-driven functional music company partnered with Universal Music Group, told CNN. Guz explained that there has been rising pressure from labels and artists to change the way Spotify makes distinctions between functional noise and music.

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Persons: CNN —, ”, Ed Sheeran, Robert Kync, ” Marina Guz, Guz, “ There’s, ” Guz, Spotify’s Organizations: CNN, Spotify, Warner Music Group, Universal Music Group, Bloomberg