( CNN ) -- Silence is golden . Or at least that was the plan . Indie band Vulfpeck hatched a scheme to earn a big payout from Spotify . But they 'd have to be clever ; the music streaming service pays artists less than a penny a play . So , here 's what Vulfpeck did . The band uploaded a 10-song album called `` Sleepify '' and asked their fans to stream the album on repeat while they slept , hoping to multiply the royalty rate exponentially . There was even some incentive . The band was going to use the money to pay for a free concert tour and go to the cities that streamed the album the most . Every track is completely silent -- no music at all -- and only about half a minute long . According to the Spotify 's payment plan , each song needs to be listened to for at least 30 seconds to count as an official listen . Cha-ching ! Fans came up big . Vulfpeck racked up about $ 20,000 , according to reports . At the half-a-cent per play rate the band says it gets from the service , that 's 4 million plays . But not so fast , Spotify told the band : The album violated its terms of content . And `` Sleepify '' was gone . When contacted , Spotify 's Graham James had little to say . `` Sorry . Not commenting on this one , '' he told CNN . There 's no word on whether Vulfpeck will get paid . Such a setback might deter other bands . But not Vulfpeck . It bounced back with a new three-track album called `` Official Statement . '' On the first track , `` # Hurt , '' Keyboardist Jack Stratton spills his guts about the situation . `` The gist of it was that , while they enjoyed 'Sleepify ' and thought it was funny and clever , that it violated their terms of content , '' he said . `` So I do n't know what 's going to happen with it -- it 's very uncertain at the moment . And in light of that uncertainly I want to take 30 seconds silence to ponder the uncertainty . '' That ushers in the second track , `` # Reflect '' -- 31 seconds of silence . Sound familiar ? Track three is a 32-second instrumental called `` Parted Sea ( Strong Pesach ) . '' Can lightning strike twice ? We 'll see . But for a repeat , Vulfpeck fans will have to hit repeat , again and again and again ... . CNN 's Chandler Friedman contributed to this report .
Bands make money when someone listens on Spotify . Indie band Vulpeck got fans to listen millions of times . Spotify says the band violated their rules .