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"I planted 36,000 trees with Spotify streams"
Interview with Matt Gordon, founder of mptr.ee
Joe Manktelow-Pimm
April 15, 2025
We all know Spotify pays artists (even if it’s not very much).
But how many of us could join the dots to turn that fact into a forest?
"We uploaded a 31-second audio clip to Spotify. 1000s of people stream it every month. It's been played 3.6 million times. Every 100 plays we plant a tree."
That’s 36,000 trees planted across Kenya, Madagascar, and Mozambique—all funded by Spotify royalties.
9 Hyde Parks worth of trees—or 1.5x Hampstead Heaths…
The project offers several tracks, from white noise to rainfall, designed for users to loop as they study or sleep.
Two hours of streaming funds roughly one tree, while a full night's sleep of streaming can plant about four.
"It's an idea I'd been thinking about for years and the pandemic gave me the time to do it. I originally thought we would donate 50 or so trees."
This is not the first time we’ve seen Spotify ad revenue gamed. Back in 20214, funk rock band Vulfpeck funded their tour with “sleepify”—a 10-track, 316-second album for hardcore fans to stream overnight. It made $20,000.
Since then, Spotify has become a bit smarter. It can tell, for example, when something is being streamed with volume on zero, and won’t credit revenue for those plays.
But Matt has found a way that works, and seems to resonate with people—so more power to him!
"It seems like such a big unmanageable problem that many people become paralysed and don't act. So I like that this is a small thing most people can do to help a little bit."
You can start planting trees by streaming MP.tree here (and for more information about the project, go here).
While we’re here, 3 more cool British eco-hustles…
Wÿnd Helmet
For London cyclists, forgetting lights or having them run out of battery can be a bit of a death-trap.
So Wÿnd (pronounced "wined") has developed a helmet with a dockable light that can be charged up with a hand crank.
For 30 seconds of winding, you get 30 minutes of light.
"We created wÿnd when we realised how many times we'd either forgotten our bike lights or forgotten to charge them—our helmets come with us for every cycle but our lights don't!"
They’re currently preparing to launch on Kickstarter.
Iris Solar
London-based Iris Solar is tackling off-grid power with their portable (6kg) set-up.
Unlike static panels, Iris tilts to follow the sun throughout the day. So you get 40% more energy output (which you can monitor through their app).
"The idea was to create an all-in-one unit combining batteries, panels, and a charge controller, so users could simply 'buy one thing' and have a portable solar power supply,"
It kicks out enough power to charge smartphones up to 20 times or laptops 2-3 times on a single charge.
You can learn more about it here.
MANMOWER
This Bristol-based project is trying to reduce the waste of disposable razors with a mechanical beard trimmer that needs…
no electricity
no replacement blades
no plastic
and even no water
MANMOWER is fully stainless steel, with ten "surgical grade" blades that self-sharpen as you shave, and a hollow handle that collects the hairs to throw away later.
"Shaving or electric trimming how your father did it was a consumption-based, plastics-heavy, climate-destructive activity that is just not appropriate for modern life, or the world we now live in."
You can shave down to a "Grade 0" (3-1mm) length—and with a built-in bottle opener, what’s not to like?