youarelistening.to

You can listen to youarelistening.to directly in your browser—the site has a built-in player (you'll see a 0:00 / 0:00 control) that streams ambient music mixed with live city sounds. To get updates on new shows and listen back to the 150+ hours of archives, you need to become a subscriber through the site's Buttondown page, which offers both free and paid options.

Listening on the Website

The core experience requires no account: open youarelistening.to and use the on-page player to start a stream. The site has been blending ambient music with city sounds since 2011, so the format is consistent—each "show" pairs a music bed with a live or recorded audio feed from a specific place.

What you can hear

The channel list on the homepage includes, among others:

Each show has a playlist icon next to it. Clicking that icon reveals track names and purchase info—almost all the music on the site is available from Bandcamp, so you can buy what you hear.

Accessing the Archives

The live player only gives you the current stream. To reach the back catalog of 150+ hours, you need a subscription.

Steps to subscribe

1. Go to the site and find the subscription prompt (the page describes the site as listener-supported).
2. Follow the link to the Buttondown subscription page at buttondown.com/youarelisteningto/buy.
3. Choose either a free or paid tier. The free tier gets you updates on new shows; the paid tier is the one linked from the "buy" URL, so expect the archive access and fuller benefits to sit behind the paid option.
4. Confirm your email—Buttondown is an email newsletter platform, so updates and archive access are delivered through it.

Expected result: after subscribing, you receive notifications when new shows are published and gain a way to listen back to the archive rather than only the live stream.

A note on cost

The site is listener-supported and the subscription link is labeled "paid," so don't assume the archives are free. The page does mention a "free or paid subscriber" choice, meaning a no-cost tier exists—but the archive access described alongside the paid link is most likely tied to the paid tier. Check the Buttondown page for the current split before committing.

Staying Updated Outside the Site

If you don't want email, the site points you to Bluesky and Instagram for staying in touch. These are useful for spotting new shows or specials—for example, the NTS Radio special, since the site has been playing monthly on NTS Radio since 2015.

Common Snags

• No archive without subscribing. The homepage player is live-only; the 150+ hours sit behind the subscription.
• Buttondown handles the signup. If you're looking for an in-site account system, there isn't one described—everything routes through Buttondown.
• Track purchasing is separate. Playlist icons give you Bandcamp links; buying music there is a different transaction from subscribing.

Quick Decision Guide

• Just want to listen now: open the site, use the player, pick a channel.
• Want new-show alerts: free Buttondown subscription.
• Want the 150+ hour archive: paid Buttondown subscription.
• Want to follow casually: Bluesky or Instagram.

youarelistening.to mixes ambient music with city and institutional sounds, and the channels listed on its homepage include LAX Air Traffic Control, Shipping Forecast, Painting with Bob Ross, Montreal Fire Department, Los Angeles PD, Tokyo Haneda ATC, Maradona NTS Special, and Toronto Transit Control. You can switch between them in the site's player. The site has been blending ambient music with city sounds since 2011, and the audio is listener-supported.

The channels listed on the site

The homepage presents these as selectable audio sources:

The site describes itself as "ambient music + city sounds," so the expectation is that these feeds are layered with ambient music rather than played dry.

How the sources fit together

The channels fall into a few recognizable categories:

• Aviation and transport control — LAX ATC, Tokyo Haneda ATC, Toronto Transit Control
• Emergency dispatch — Montreal Fire Department, Los Angeles PD
• Broadcast and recorded audio — Shipping Forecast, Painting with Bob Ross
• Special programming — Maradona NTS Special

The site notes it has been "playing monthly since 2015 on NTS Radio," which explains the NTS Special entry.

Listening and finding track information

• Use the player on the site to switch between channels.
• Click the playlist icons next to each show to see track names and purchase info.
• Almost all the music on the site is available from Bandcamp, according to the site.

Archives and updates

The site says it is listener-supported. To get updates on new shows and to listen back to more than 150 hours of archives, it suggests becoming a free or paid subscriber. A paid option is linked via Buttondown. The site also points to Bluesky and Instagram for staying in touch.

If you want to know what a channel sounds like before committing, the fastest route is to open the player and switch through the listed sources directly.

youarelistening.to is a listener-supported project that has been blending ambient music with live city sounds since 2011. Its funding comes from subscribers rather than advertising, and its media recognition includes 99% Invisible, Boing Boing, BBC, The Atlantic, and The New York Times. It has also aired monthly on NTS Radio since 2015.

How the Site Is Supported

The site describes itself as listener-supported. That means its continued operation depends on its audience rather than on ads or a parent company.

You can support it by becoming a subscriber. Two options are mentioned:

• Free subscriber — receive updates on new shows.
• Paid subscriber — receive updates and access to archives of more than 150 hours of past shows.

Paid subscriptions are handled through Buttondown, at https://buttondown.com/youarelisteningto/buy. The site does not state a price on the page, so check the Buttondown page for current terms before subscribing.

Subscribing also serves a practical purpose beyond support: the archive access tied to paid subscriptions is the stated way to listen back to past shows.

Where It Has Been Featured

The site lists the following outlets and programs as places it has been "seen and heard":

The NTS Radio entry is the most specific: the site says it has been playing there monthly since 2015, which makes it an ongoing broadcast presence rather than a one-time mention.

Staying in Touch and Finding the Music

For updates beyond the subscription, the site points to Bluesky and Instagram.

Almost all of the music played on the site is available from Bandcamp. Each show has playlist icons next to it; clicking those reveals track names and purchase information, so you can go from a broadcast to buying the music directly.

What This Means If You're Deciding Whether to Subscribe

• If you only want to know when new shows appear, the free subscription tier covers that.
• If you want to listen back to the archive — described as 150+ hours — the paid tier is the route the site offers.
• If your main interest is the music itself, you don't need a subscription to identify or buy tracks; the Bandcamp links are exposed per show through the playlist icons.

Because pricing is not published on the main page, treat the Buttondown link as the place to confirm cost and terms rather than assuming any particular amount.

youarelistening.to is a listener-supported website that blends ambient music with live or recorded city sounds, and it has been running since 2011. You can open it in a browser and listen for free to channels that mix ambient tracks with audio feeds such as air traffic control, shipping forecasts, police and fire dispatch, and transit control. If you want updates and access to more than 150 hours of archives, the site asks you to consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

What you actually hear

The site pairs ambient music with real-world audio from cities and public systems. The homepage lists these channels as examples:

• LAX Air Traffic Control
• Shipping Forecast
• Painting with Bob Ross
• Montreal Fire Department
• Los Angeles PD
• Tokyo Haneda ATC
• Maradona NTS Special
• Toronto Transit Control

Each channel is a continuous mix, so the experience is less like a podcast episode and more like tuning into a stream where music and field audio overlap.

How the music and track info work

Almost all the music on the site is available from Bandcamp. Next to each show there is a playlist icon; clicking it shows track names and purchase information. That means you can listen on the site and then go to Bandcamp if you want to buy the music you heard.

Is it free?

The site describes itself as listener-supported. It offers a free or paid subscription option for updates and archives. The page includes a paid link, but the listening experience itself is presented as something you can access without a stated paywall. If you want archive access or updates, the subscription path is the one the site points to.

Who it is for

This is for you if you want background audio that is neither pure music nor pure talk. It suits work, reading, or ambient listening where you want a steady atmosphere with occasional real-world interruptions. It is not a conventional radio station or a music discovery service with full songs on demand; it is a curated blend of ambient music and city systems audio.

How to start

1. Go to youarelistening.to in a browser.
2. Pick a channel from the list on the page.
3. Let it play; the stream mixes ambient music with the selected audio feed.
4. Click the playlist icon next to a show if you want track names and Bandcamp purchase links.
5. If you want updates and archives, follow the subscription link on the site.

The site also points to Bluesky and Instagram for staying in touch, and notes it has been played monthly on NTS Radio since 2015.

Almost all of the music you hear on youarelistening.to is available on Bandcamp, and the site makes it easy to find and purchase: click the playlist icon next to any show to see the track names and purchase information. The site has been blending ambient music with live city sounds since 2011, so the music you're hearing is curated ambient work layered over feeds like LAX air traffic control, the shipping forecast, or Montreal fire department radio.

How the music is presented

Each show on youarelistening.to mixes two elements:

• Ambient music — the primary listening layer
• City and radio sounds — live or recorded feeds such as air traffic control, transit control, or public safety radio

Because the ambient tracks sit underneath the field recordings, identifying a song by ear is difficult. That's why the site attaches a playlist to each show rather than relying on you to recognize tracks in real time.

Finding track names and buying the music

The workflow is short:

1. Open a show on youarelistening.to.
2. Click the playlist icon next to that show.
3. The playlist lists the track names along with purchase info.
4. Almost all of that music is available from Bandcamp, where you can buy it directly.

Buying through Bandcamp is the path the site points to, and it's the way to support the artists whose ambient work makes each mix possible.

What you can listen to

The site's show list gives a sense of the range of sound sources paired with music. Examples from the site include:

The mix of ambient music with these feeds is the core of the project, and it has been running in this format since 2011.

Keeping up and listening back

The site is listener-supported. To get updates on new shows and to listen back to 150+ hours of archives, you can become a free or paid subscriber. There is a paid subscription option available through the site's subscription link. Updates and contact also run through Bluesky and Instagram.

If you want to go deeper than the live stream, the archive is the place to start — and the playlist icons remain the fastest route from "what is this track?" to buying it on Bandcamp.