(Credits: Far Out / Mia Harvey / Emiliano Vittoriosi)
For most people, the perfect length for an album is less than an hour, and anything which lasts longer than that allotted time is overstaying its welcome. However, one band didn’t receive that memo when they crafted a record-breaking LP with an overwhelming 1000 tracks.
The band in question are called The Pocket Gods. They are from St. Albans, England, and were formed in 1998. Throughout their prolific career, they have released over 25 albums but have become growingly frustrated with the current state of the music industry over the years. After reading an article about the inner workings of Spotify, The Pocket Gods frontman Mark Christopher Lee decided to play a trick on the streaming giant by releasing an album with 1000 songs.
All the songs on the album, titled 1000×30 – Nobody Makes Money Anymore, only last 30 seconds. Lee decided upon the remit for the record because he learnt that Spotify classified any recording that lasted 30 seconds as a song and received the same royalty payment as a standard-length track.
“We wrote and recorded 1,000 songs, each a shade over 30 seconds long for the album. The longest is 36 seconds. It is designed to raise awareness about the campaign for fair royalty rates,” Lee told Haulix Daily. “Spotify is a great musical resource, and it allows indie bands like us to upload our music without record companies. I also believe in free speech even though I’m a massive Neil Young fan, so I don’t support the boycott. We just want to raise awareness of the royalties issue.”
The album landed The Pocket Gods into the Guinness Book of World Records for having the most songs on a digital album. Of the achievement, Lee said: “We want this record to stand till the end of time or set a really hard challenge for any artists out there! We also hold the record for most studio albums released digitally and are in the process of waiting for the world’s longest song which we have held previously.”
He continued: “I’ve suffered from mental health issues and have a disability and this is proof that if anyone can achieve whatever they want with passion and focus and belief!”
Their fight against streaming platforms is an ever-going battle, and The Pocket Gods aren’t prepared to back down anytime soon. In 2023, they released 1000×30 Music Streaming Is Broken But Together We Can Fix It. The album boasts tracks such as ‘We All Need To Value Music’, ‘Spotify’s Castle Is Built On Sand‘, ‘Ed Sheeran Is Everywhere’, and ‘Spotify Will Never Kill Rock and Roll’.
While The Pocket Gods haven’t achieved their goal of making Spotify increase their royalty payments, they aren’t going to give up fighting the good fight in their own unique way.
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