Moby has entered into an exclusive partnership with the world’s leading sleep and meditation app, Calm, to release his new album Long Ambients 2 today ( Friday, March 15) – World Sleep Day.
The album will be available exclusively on Calm Music, the Calm app’s new music platform for the first 30 days, and will only then become available on other music platforms including iTunes and Spotify.
Moby’s decision to release his album through a sleep and meditation app might just be a stroke of genius.
Meditation is at least a $1 billion industry in the United States alone, and while the lucrative fitness sector has proved to be a popular marketing platform for the music business, no major artist, until Moby, has tapped into the potential reach that the Meditation sector offers.
San-Francisco-based Calm has had over 45 million downloads to date and over 700,000 5-star user reviews.
The app’s Calm Music streaming platform has also exploded since its launch just 18 months ago with its catalog of almost 200 tracks having amassed over 150 million streams.
Its top four music categories are, Sleep, Focus, Relax and Nature Melodies.
The Calm app is free to download but a paid subscription to Calm Premium gives access to over 100 hours of premium content, including a growing library of “advanced meditations, soothing Sleep Stories, calming nature scenes, a breathing tool and Calm Masterclasses”.
A subscription to Calm Premium costs £35.99/year or £299.99 for lifetime membership
Moby and Calm were connected through Motive Unknown, a digital strategy agency based in London, which specializes in empowering artists and expanding their global brands.
Long Ambients 2 is the sequel and companion piece to 2016’s Long Ambients 1: Calm. Sleep., a collection of minimalist ambient music.
This new work replicates the style of the original album, featuring six ambient tracks running to approximately 37 minutes each.
The previous album was also released in a somewhat unconventional way. Moby released it for free in partnership with file sharing platform WeTransfer, and its tracks have been streamed over 9m times on Spotify, with “countless” full album downloads.
Moby first came to attention in 1991 with his hit Go and has achieved critical and commercial success since then with albums such as Play and 18 contributing to a total of 20 million album sales.
His previous album was Everything Was Beautiful, and Nothing Hurt.
“I originally made these songs for myself because I couldn’t find this type of music anywhere. Long Ambients 2 was designed to help me sleep and to help other people find calm and maybe get a good night’s sleep.”
Moby
Moby said: “I originally made these songs for myself because I couldn’t find this type of music anywhere.
“Long Ambients 2 was designed to help me sleep and to help other people find calm and maybe get a good night’s sleep.
“I hope to share it with other people who have sleep issues or battle anxiety or have a hard time calming themselves down.”
“Music is the universal language; so, it makes perfect sense that it’s such a big and growing part of Calm and our mission to make the world happier and healthier.”
Michael Acton sMith OBE, Calm
Michael Acton Smith OBE, co-founder of Calm, added: “We’re thrilled that Moby is choosing to launch his new album on Calm Music in a way that has never been done before.
“As Calm music grows in popularity, more and more artists, including Grammy winners and household names, are now reaching out to us about having their work featured on Calm Music. But this partnership with Moby will take it to the next level.
“Music is the universal language; so, it makes perfect sense that it’s such a big and growing part of Calm and our mission to make the world happier and healthier.”Music Business Worldwide
