Spotify's “white noise” podcasters are making thousands of dollars per month creating soothing sounds, a growing market that major networks have yet to explore
Individual white-noise creators are earning thousands of dollars per month on Spotify with no network deal, production budget, or exclusivity contract — the platform's open terms are doing the work the celebrity-spending playbook hasn't.
Major podcast networks remain absent from the category, leaving the soothing-sounds audience — and its ad inventory — uncontested.
Second-order effects
The category's success creates an internal conflict for Spotify itself: an internal doc weighed removing white noise podcasts entirely, redirecting listeners to talk content worth €35M in annual gross profit — meaning the company's own margin math now points against its most cost-effective creators.
With the $1B+ podcast bet still unprofitable, rivals can court displaced or demoted white-noise creators cheaply, since these shows carry no exclusivity lock-in and can migrate at zero cost.
Third-order effects
If platforms under margin pressure start curating catalogs by gross-profit contribution rather than open upload, the long-tail creator economy that podcasting's zero-cut model built becomes negotiable — distribution shifts from a right to an algorithmically steered privilege.
The pattern suggests audio platforms will increasingly treat cheap-to-produce ambient content as a margin lever to prune rather than a moat to grow, forcing creators toward multi-platform hedging.
The trend: Podcasting is moving from an exclusive-content land grab to margin-driven catalog management, where the cheapest long-tail content is simultaneously the biggest success story and the first candidate for removal.
Every ambient producer I know should get in on this. Dead serious. If you want a way to rack up streams and get paid through Spotify's prioritization of podcasts over music, this is a way to do it. https://twitter.com/...
@fictionfanspod
@fictionfanspod on x
Clearly we need to change our content strategy 😂 https://twitter.com/...
@eve6
@eve6 on x
now spotify is just trolling artists https://twitter.com/...
@seldo
Laurie Voss on x
Aren't all podcasts white noise though https://twitter.com/...
@keccers
Katherine Champagne on x
smh sometimes when I see stuff like this I just think “wow I'm really working harder not smarter huh” https://twitter.com/...
@strategistspod
@strategistspod on x
We would like to announce a change in format https://www.bloomberg.com/...
@ashleyrcarman
Ashley Carman on x
NEW: i took a look at the world of white noise podcasters, the people who share box fan sounds or static. most use spotify's free anchor hosting to monetize their show & one person is making ~$18K a month through ads! another gets ~100K listens PER DAY! https://www.bloomberg.com/…
@bryanbarletta
Bryan Barletta on x
Here's a takeaway from this I want everyone to consider: there isn't a discovery problem, we just don't know the search habits within podcast aggregators the way we think we know web search engine behavior. People are FINDING shows, they're just not finding YOUR show. https://twi…
@dabitch
@dabitch on x
Once again, I'm kicking myself. Making a popular podcast full of nothing but soothing static and calming sounds can earn $18K a month on Spotify https://www.bloomberg.com/... via @luxury
@mattnavarra
Matt Navarra on x
they bet they also sell ‘premium air’ for car tyres https://www.bloomberg.com/...
@reblavoie
Rebecca Lavoie on x
I don't hate this https://twitter.com/...
@podcastharry
Harry Morton on x
This is bananas. Whenever I hear stories like this I'm always like 'why didn't I think of that - genius!' But... how would you think of this shit?! https://twitter.com/...
@crackedscience
Jonathan Jarry on x
OK, there's a FOURTH type. https://twitter.com/...
@jahhills
Ryan H. Walsh on x
“Anchor manages the commercial load and pays Moore $12.25 per thousand listens, which adds up to about $612.50 per day, or around $18,375 per month.” $12.25/1000 = $0.01225/stream Average paypout per stream for music? $0.005. So, 145% more per stream for a podcast than music? htt…
@evoterra
@evoterra on x
We've been doing it wrong, podcasters. https://twitter.com/...
@stephaniemlee
Stephanie M. Lee on x
incredible story and i have chosen the wrong career https://twitter.com/...
@gavgaddis
Gavin ‘Event Organizer’ Gaddis on x
Perfectly timed with that viral TikTok footage of a white noise podcast waking up a baby with a sudden iHeartRadio style loud ad break. https://twitter.com/...
@itsdaveedwards
Dave Edwards on x
A guy who makes podcasts of looped white noise makes more money than 99%+ of musicians on Spotify What a time to be alive https://twitter.com/...
@dlberes
Damon Beres on x
This is a really good story with some nice detail about Anchor, the podcast hosting service Spotify acquired in 2019. If you're interested in this weird world, @PeterSlattery3 did a nice series for OneZero, including a piece on Spotify's white-noise spam: https://onezero.medium.c…
@dada_drummer
Damon K on x
You'll likely do better financially putting white noise on Spotify than music https://twitter.com/...
@walldo
Brandon Wall on x
White noise podcasters are my people https://www.bloomberg.com/...