• by Colin Kirkland , August 18, 2023

By ridding its platform of white noise podcasters, Spotify could increase its gross annual profit by $38 million, according to Bloomberg, which reported on an internal document showing that white noise content attracted 3 million daily consumption hours on the music streaming platform.

White noise podcasters are making up to $18,000 a month on Spotify via a hosting software called Anchor that the company purchased in 2019 to help creators launch podcasts and monetize original content. However, due to the amount of money these creators are making from posting 12-hour long loops of fan, vacuum, and wave audio, Spotify has reportedly contemplated cutting them off.

Furthermore, Spotify considered changing its algorithm to recommend “comparable programming” (likely audio programming connected to sleep and anxiety solutions) that would help raise the company&'s annual gross profit by $38 million.

Bloomberg's reportshows various users and creators complaining about their white noise tracks disappearing from the platform. Spotify told the publisher that it “can’t speak to the specific episodes” that went missing, and that they “routinely run tests and are in contact with creators on a case by case basis.”

In addition, Spotify said that“the proposal in question did not come to fruition,” and that it will continue to host “white noise podcasts on its platform.”

Spotify has invested heavily in its podcast offerings over the past four years, recently partnering with artist subscription platform Patreon for podcast integration, and announcing a layoff of 2% of its workforce in June due to a “fundamental pivot” of its podcast unit in order to expand its podcast capabilities and analytics.