Spotify to cut certain ads for white-noise creators, who can make $18,000 a month curating hours of thunderstorms or bird sounds

• Spotify will cut white-noise podcasts from its Ambassador Ads program, according to a Bloomberg report.
• White-noise creators can make $18,000 a month curating nature sounds for background listening.

Spotify is pulling the plug on some ads for white noise.

The music streaming juggernaut is cutting out white-noise podcasters from its lucrative Ambassador Ads program, which pays podcasts to read ads on air, starting in October, according to a report from Bloomberg. The streaming company is also requiring other podcasters to have 1,000 unique Spotify listeners, up from 100, over the past 60 days, to be eligible for the advertising program, Bloomberg says.

It has been a tough year for streamers, as the company laid off 600 employees in January. An anonymous source told Bloomberg that because white-noise listeners play shows in the background, the Ambassador Ads, which are part of Spotify's marketing budget, was not money well spent.

White-noise podcasts feature loops of calming sounds, ranging from thunderstorms and bird calls to pure static noise. Listeners use the episodes as peaceful background music for sleep, meditation, or study.

Providing the odd niche has proven lucrative. One creator, who quit his previous job to make white-noise shows full-time, broke down for Bloomberg reporter Ashley Carman last year that he was paid out $12.25 per 1,000 listens.

Based on his podcast's popularity, that added up to $18,375 a month.

For Spotify, though, not all streams are created equal.

By the company's own estimates, Spotify could save $38 million annually steering listeners away from white noise and toward more lucrative programming for the company, according to an internal memo obtained by Bloomberg earlier this month.

A Spotify spokesperson told Bloomberg the plan "did not come to fruition."