IS LO-FI MUSIC JUST A SUBGENRE?

Maybe Lo-Fi is a subgenre

When I was going to distribute my music through DistroKid, and had to choose a genre, I discovered that I couldn’t simply choose Lo-Fi music.

This was very surprising because to me, Lo-Fi music is extremely popular.

On DistroKid though, I had to place my music under the electronic category.

After some thought, a part of me did understand. Lo-Fi music is very popular and has a way of incorporating so many different styles. So maybe that’s why it didn’t have a clear genre.

Another huge reason is that because I was using DistroKid to release my music, their service had to be formatted in a way that could appease the many music streaming services.

Maybe Lo-Fi isn’t a subgenre

When I did some research on Lo-Fi music, I couldn’t believe how many different types there are.

There are the obvious big ones like Chillwave, Lo-Fi Hip-Hop, Vaporwave, and Lo-Fi House.

Under those though, many people consider different Lo-Fi aesthetics to be their own genre. Here’s a list of a few:

• Animecore
• Cartooncore
• Cafe
• Dreamy
• Synthwave
• Urbancore
• Weirdcore
• Nostalgiacore

Now, while I find a lot of these to be more like topics or aesthetics that Lo-Fi encompasses, one cannot deny the broad reach of Lo-Fi music.

As long as all of these aesthetics incorporate that analog nostalgia feel we all love, why couldn’t they be subgenres of Lo-Fi music?

So is Lo-Fi a subgenre?

Maybe not to a lot of people. But I know there’s definitely millions of people out there who would consider Lo-Fi music it’s own genre.

Its own popular music entity.

So popular in fact, that it can encompass tons of other genres beneath it.

If you ever feel the need to indulge, here’s some music to chill to.