LoFi Music brought me out of the darkness during COVID. My dreams of being like The Neptunes, Just Blaze and Kanye West were realized when I pushed by on that Novation Launchkey 49 3 years ago. I found a community on Twitch, found mentors and peers, learned, created, explored, got in touch with my emotions on another level and learned (or learning?) how to speak a new language.
I've never had a direct goal with music. My (current) moniker is a meld between an old cartoon and an NBA "bust". My LoFi is kinda HiFi in a sense but I always wanted to try for more but looks like my window is (or has closed).
So what am I going to do to see if I really have a chance? Push forward, diversify and hope that real connections can still be made in the void.
i'm a lofi producer. the struggle is real. i started out by making covers, and i have a lofi rock covers album coming out soon, but i might be abandoning lofi altogether after this project because i've gotten so drowned out by low-quality "music" that i'm almost just to the point of leaving the genre entirely.
edit: on that note, i'm really lacking inspiration and motivation to complete this project, but it's been nearly finished for several months, so if there are any similarly struggling lofi producers on here that would like to collaborate on a track on this album hit me up, it might restore some of my love for lofi production :( spacejazzofficial@gmail.com
Please share that lofi rock cover album when it’s out! Cool concepts like that still have a place if you ask me. I did a lofi cover of Prince called “I Would Die 4 Lofi” and it was a high effort banger I’m still proud of
I've been listening to a lot of the lofi put out by Gamechops from the various artists, even managed to scrap some green together to get some vinyl discs. There's something about the organic flow of sound that is wonderful and I don't get tired of it as often as I do some other music pieces.
Great article! I also produce Lofi beats and even started a Lofi hip hop record label. Not to cash in like so many others, but because I truly enjoy making dusty old boom bap beats (as I am a dusty old person 😂)
It is very unfortunate what Spotify and YouTube has done to our beautiful little music scene. It is impossible to compete on YouTube where people are slinging together 3 hour plus mixes of AI generated bull crap every day. Even a whole collective of talented producers cant keep up with that.
There was this wave of videos last year telling people they would get rich on YouTube by making AI generated Lofi music, this advice coming from YouTube financial gurus who have no idea how much love real producers are putting into their music.
My record label Lofi Alumni is working on taking a stand against AI by not using any AI art or writings and by creating community Compilation albums for charity. We raised a few dollars for Toys for Tots at Christmas time, and we are now preparing to take on plastic pollution in the ocean with our next release.
If you like Lofi Hip Hop check us out, and if you are looking for a new but honest and professional Lofi record label to work with hit me up on IG.
Spotify's practices are so frustrating, especially for someone like me who's trying to get his foot in the door in the world of music. Lo-Fi was a perfect entry point for someone wanting to get into music, relatively easy to learn, hard to master and make sound truly unique. Which I suppose was it's folly.I now have to wonder to myself if its even worth making Lo-Fi as a up-and-coming producer looking for growth, because of the previously mentioned "ease" of the genre, and Spotify. I don't see Lo-Fi going away anytime soon, but it Spotify saturating the market with its A.I generated slop is slashing the tires of the bandwagon for sure.
Dude, you hit the nail on the head. Other genres are suffering the same fate now, such as the 'phonk' subgenre of beats, additionally complicated by newer producers calling music 'phonk' that has nothing to do with the original subgenre
It was ever thus. No one owes any artist a living. Spotify and YouTube give literally anyone a window to billions of listeners. But listeners don't have to listen to you and Spotify doesn't have to include you in playlists. In fact it's easier to make some money out of music than it ever was (ever try selling your mix tapes outside Camden Tube?). But that doesn't mean everyone can.
I read this article and immediately put on a Lo-fi Girl playlist to see what it's all about. I'm probably not going to go further than her because I now have hours of great background music. Is that hard on other aspiring artists? Maybe. But not everyone can make it. You need to work out how to differentiate and stand out to make listeners decide to spend their time on you. Differentiation seems quite hard in Lo-fi, but I'm sure there's a next genius out there.
If you love making music, pursue your passion. Just don't expect it to make you a living any time soon.
I think there’s something even more nefarious being done by Spotify: them (meaning Spotify) gating payments only for anybody above 1,000 listens. I was paid before that policy and now I’m paid bubkes. Spotify is bigger theft than Napster and the Pirate Bay ever was.
there is a bit of nuance for this policy most people miss, when a track hit’s that 1000 streams it is paid for those streams. unlike youtube, which does not allow monetization at all until a threshold is hit, Spotify does pay for those streams as long as a track hits 1000 over a trailing 12 month period
LoFi Music brought me out of the darkness during COVID. My dreams of being like The Neptunes, Just Blaze and Kanye West were realized when I pushed by on that Novation Launchkey 49 3 years ago. I found a community on Twitch, found mentors and peers, learned, created, explored, got in touch with my emotions on another level and learned (or learning?) how to speak a new language.
I've never had a direct goal with music. My (current) moniker is a meld between an old cartoon and an NBA "bust". My LoFi is kinda HiFi in a sense but I always wanted to try for more but looks like my window is (or has closed).
So what am I going to do to see if I really have a chance? Push forward, diversify and hope that real connections can still be made in the void.
I find myself leaning towards HiFi sounding beats these days myself too. My advice has always been the same, keep making music, and never quit
i'm a lofi producer. the struggle is real. i started out by making covers, and i have a lofi rock covers album coming out soon, but i might be abandoning lofi altogether after this project because i've gotten so drowned out by low-quality "music" that i'm almost just to the point of leaving the genre entirely.
edit: on that note, i'm really lacking inspiration and motivation to complete this project, but it's been nearly finished for several months, so if there are any similarly struggling lofi producers on here that would like to collaborate on a track on this album hit me up, it might restore some of my love for lofi production :( spacejazzofficial@gmail.com
Please share that lofi rock cover album when it’s out! Cool concepts like that still have a place if you ask me. I did a lofi cover of Prince called “I Would Die 4 Lofi” and it was a high effort banger I’m still proud of
YES! This is journalism.
Love you guys. Thanks for the article and for raising awareness on this. I will go do the things and support real artists like you suggest!!!
I've been listening to a lot of the lofi put out by Gamechops from the various artists, even managed to scrap some green together to get some vinyl discs. There's something about the organic flow of sound that is wonderful and I don't get tired of it as often as I do some other music pieces.
Great article! I also produce Lofi beats and even started a Lofi hip hop record label. Not to cash in like so many others, but because I truly enjoy making dusty old boom bap beats (as I am a dusty old person 😂)
It is very unfortunate what Spotify and YouTube has done to our beautiful little music scene. It is impossible to compete on YouTube where people are slinging together 3 hour plus mixes of AI generated bull crap every day. Even a whole collective of talented producers cant keep up with that.
There was this wave of videos last year telling people they would get rich on YouTube by making AI generated Lofi music, this advice coming from YouTube financial gurus who have no idea how much love real producers are putting into their music.
My record label Lofi Alumni is working on taking a stand against AI by not using any AI art or writings and by creating community Compilation albums for charity. We raised a few dollars for Toys for Tots at Christmas time, and we are now preparing to take on plastic pollution in the ocean with our next release.
If you like Lofi Hip Hop check us out, and if you are looking for a new but honest and professional Lofi record label to work with hit me up on IG.
Spotify's practices are so frustrating, especially for someone like me who's trying to get his foot in the door in the world of music. Lo-Fi was a perfect entry point for someone wanting to get into music, relatively easy to learn, hard to master and make sound truly unique. Which I suppose was it's folly.I now have to wonder to myself if its even worth making Lo-Fi as a up-and-coming producer looking for growth, because of the previously mentioned "ease" of the genre, and Spotify. I don't see Lo-Fi going away anytime soon, but it Spotify saturating the market with its A.I generated slop is slashing the tires of the bandwagon for sure.
Dude, you hit the nail on the head. Other genres are suffering the same fate now, such as the 'phonk' subgenre of beats, additionally complicated by newer producers calling music 'phonk' that has nothing to do with the original subgenre
It was ever thus. No one owes any artist a living. Spotify and YouTube give literally anyone a window to billions of listeners. But listeners don't have to listen to you and Spotify doesn't have to include you in playlists. In fact it's easier to make some money out of music than it ever was (ever try selling your mix tapes outside Camden Tube?). But that doesn't mean everyone can.
I read this article and immediately put on a Lo-fi Girl playlist to see what it's all about. I'm probably not going to go further than her because I now have hours of great background music. Is that hard on other aspiring artists? Maybe. But not everyone can make it. You need to work out how to differentiate and stand out to make listeners decide to spend their time on you. Differentiation seems quite hard in Lo-fi, but I'm sure there's a next genius out there.
If you love making music, pursue your passion. Just don't expect it to make you a living any time soon.
I think there’s something even more nefarious being done by Spotify: them (meaning Spotify) gating payments only for anybody above 1,000 listens. I was paid before that policy and now I’m paid bubkes. Spotify is bigger theft than Napster and the Pirate Bay ever was.
there is a bit of nuance for this policy most people miss, when a track hit’s that 1000 streams it is paid for those streams. unlike youtube, which does not allow monetization at all until a threshold is hit, Spotify does pay for those streams as long as a track hits 1000 over a trailing 12 month period