What is a lofi music artist?
Lofi music artists are musicians who are about to make it big by making their music available for streaming on all major platforms.
Where can lofi musicians distribute their music?
Over the past few years, there's been a proliferation of "lofi hip hop" videos that have amassed millions of views on YouTube. While it's great that music creators are receiving exposure, many are frustrated by the lack of royalties they're receiving. But lofi artists can leverage emerging distribution platforms like Tidal to monetize their work.
What is lofi hip hop?
The term "lofi" means low fidelity and refers to the intentionally low sound quality in these productions. The genre encompasses a variety of styles and themes, ranging from relaxing instrumentals to gritty beats with sampled vocals.
Where can lofi musicians distribute their music?
Lofi hip hop artists used to rely on SoundCloud for promotion and distribution, but this channel is no longer a viable option for monetizing content. But in recent years, new platforms like Apple Music and YouTube have emerged as important distribution channels for independent artists. These services have been criticized for their payment structures, which pay creators less than other channels. Fortunately, Tidal pays higher rates than other streaming services and provides the tools needed for content creators to manage their own catalogs.
Listening to lofi music is a great way to lower your stress and focus on the task at hand. The music is often paired with repetitive motions like coding, gaming, or reading. It's easy to get into a flow state while listening to this type of music, which increases productivity.
Lofi musicians create music by taking popular songs and remixing them in an original way. This creates a song that's familiar to the listener but also new and fresh. ... These artists put their own take on popular songs which makes people more open to listening to this style of music.
How does Tidal compare to other streaming platforms?
Tidal, in many ways, is the perfect streaming music service for the lofi hip-hop community. The sound quality is excellent — it's one of the only services to offer lossless audio streaming — and it's widely available on different platforms. You can listen through your browser on a computer, or download the app on your mobile device.
If you're outside of the United States, you'll also notice that Tidal has an extensive collection of lofi music — more than most other platforms. That's because TIDAL is a wholly owned subsidiary of Aspiro AB.
TIDAL is a subscription-based music streaming service that combines lossless audio and high definition music videos with curated editorial. The service has over 60 million songs and 240,000 high quality videos in its catalog along with original video series, podcasts, thousands of expertly crafted playlists and artist discovery via TIDAL Rising.
The platform offers two tiers of subscription: Premium which provides access to standard sound quality (320 kbps), while HiFi offers access to lossless CD quality audio files (1411 kbps). Users can also sign up for a free trial before committing to either plan.
The sound quality is excellent whether you stream through the desktop client or the app on your mobile device.
Tidal may not be the most popular streaming service, but it has a unique proposition for one type of artist: lofi music producers.
Many artists who produce lofi music sell their music through Bandcamp. Others release their songs on Soundcloud and YouTube. A few release albums on iTunes and Spotify. But as Tidal's high-quality sound and new subscription plans prove, the platform is ideal for many lofi music producers.
Lofi music is a relatively new genre, having been named just a few years ago by one of its most popular artists, Tomppabeats. The music is described as "a genre of largely Japanese electronic/acoustic soothing songs which usually have low bpm, melancholy melodies and are usually instrumental."
The genre was born out of hip hop beats and ambient soundscapes but often includes vocal samples from jazz singers and R&B artists like Erykah Badu.
Tidal offers CD-quality streams of lofi songs that are impossible to find on other platforms due to licensing issues or technical limitations (the number of audio channels). Users can listen to the music through $15-per-month HiFi subscriptions or via the desktop app — there is no mobile app for iOS or Android devices yet.
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