Singer Michelle Shocked doesn’t actually sing on her new album, Inaudible Woman. In fact, there are no sounds audible to the human ear on the album. However, she’s still asking fans to buy it so she can raise money for a tour.
The 11 tracks on the album are all named after executives in the digital music industry and most last under a minute. The album can be downloaded at CDBaby.com for $9.99. She has also posted a video on Vimeo, in which she pleads with listeners to at least stream the album on Spotify so she can earn royalties that way, in case you don’t want a silent album in your permanent collection.
Accoridng to Billboard, some of the executives name-checked on the track titles include SiriusXM’s Patrick Donnelly and Clear Channel’s Robert Walls. Another track is named after The Hollywood Reporter and Billboard journalist Chris Willman, who had once written about her anti-gay comments. Willman wrote on Facebook that he did spent .99 cents on the track.
While this may sound like a bizarre move, Rolling Stone notes that it’s not the first time a musical act has done this. Funk band Vulfpeck posted Sleepify on Spotify, which featured 10 silent, 30-second tracks. It was eventually pulled by Spotify, but not before the band made $20,000 from it.
Inaudible Women - feat. Spot Loves Spotify from Michelle Shocked on Vimeo.