What does lofi--hifi mean to the market?

[nave]

Analog,

Yah, there's no doubt that the term lo-fi is selling albums to people who don't know any better..........I myself just don't think about the label cause to me all music falls into one of two categories....Good and Bad...If I think it's good I buy it...If not then someone else will

But as far as a marketing perspective is concerned, yah, putting that label on something might sell more copies of an album as long as you know that your shooting for that type demographic consumer.....So, do it up....

As for those writers, I want there job! Someone just dumps a pile of CD's on their lap and says listen and write...Not a bad deal......That's why I'm always reading those things cause part of me thinks that maybe one day I could make some money doing the writing thing....when I was an undergrad I wrote for my college newspaper lol So why not, ya know.,,...


good luck

-nave

 

[47ronin]

Aesthetically, I think the division of musical styles into different genres is kind of annoying and often arbitrary; however if I were involved in marketing I think I would say that once discernible genres are identified there is a niche for exploiting this somehow. For example, take alternative country music. Say a band like Uncle Tupelo...they probably sold a lot more albums after the altcounty thing was identified as a genre. People tend to buy music in clumps based on genre I think (in general) For example...someone bought an altcountry fan magazine or went to a website and read about those bands and all of a sudden they buy other bands like 16 horsepower, lucinda williams, scud mountain boys, etc. Your average music fan would never have bought all those bands independently without having some collective term or movement
that brought them all together. So to actually sell albums I think it is pretty useful to have some association with some kind of larger genre....indie labels that do well tend to kind of thrive on this. Like maybe Thrill Jockey or SST back in the day or something...you have an image of what the album will sound like even before you buy it, and there is a kind of overarching hipness to all of the groups....the succesful labels I think are able to somehow manipulate their way into being percieved as representing and selling all their bands as part of a whole even if the musical styles are not actually that similar...i think


47ronin

 

[analog4]

Hi 47,

Great input!!

The subject of demographics has been touched on by Pirateking--
thanks ----This of course may further define the usefulness of this
term as a market tool and whether at all useful..

I hear what you guys are saying about the pitfalls of using this
term--especially for music aimed at young audiences--but what
about baby boomers---don't forget---they're still buying music
even if the majors have forgotten..

I had an established indie label in the UK critique a couple of
my own tunes---downloads were in draft form done on my trusty
4 Track and they loved them the way they are..They might be
blowing sunshine up my you know where ----but they have
absolutely no motive to do so..

Point being they accepted "lo-fi" tracks presented as retro 70's
folk rock as being "cool"......

Marketable????? Don't know yet--but the experiment has begun.
I certainly will keep you guys updated...

 

[ismaelson]

one of my hobbies is rocknroll history and i would agree that buyers tend to buy things in clumps based on genre, trend or whatever.

the concept of lofi actually arose in the early 80s when the mainstream co-opted punk & new wave. in the USofA, the revolt against this gave birth to two strains of what has been called college rock, progressive rock and alternative rock: hardcore punk and underground pop. groups like REM, some New Zealand bands (like the Clean, the Chills, the Bats and the Tall Dwarfs), Black Flag and Minor Threat stormed onto the scene with music that was not readily accepted in the mainstream and had to be released on their own terms.

the two probably biggest groups out of the 80s to lead the pack were Beat Happening and Pussy Galore. the former sounds great for the most part while the latter is haphazard & loose. then followed bands like Pavement and Sebadoh. Beck and Liz Phair were considered by the media to be the two persons to bring "lo-fi" to the mainstream.

the so-called Grunge movement really has little to do with the lo-fi thing except for the fact that Nirvana's _Nevermind_ displaced Michael Jackson from the top of the charts and replaced Guns N Roses as the saviours of a dying popular music front, thus the beginning of the assimilation of previously underground notions such as lo-fi, noise and whatnot.

Steve Albini, a much sought after recording engineer & producer, played with such infamous bands such as the Rapemen and Big Black, and he makes great sounding records but insists on smashing everyone's brain with the notion that digital sucks (it states on the back cover of Big Black's _Songs About Fucking_: the future belongs to the analog loyalists. fuck digital.)

lo-fi as a marketing tool has been extremely successful. it has allowed for the strange infiltration of numerous bands that would have otherwise remained fringe acts (assuming they do not continue to be so).

and flying saucer attack in their dense grandness states in the liner notes of their so-called rural psychedelia album _Further_: home taping is reinventing music.

it is a shame most folks want to make music to be rich and whatnot. the original joy that most folks have lost is that music usually was fun, moving, made one's ass shake, that sorta thing. who needs money when you can warp minds?

in all seriousness, marketing your stuff as "lo-fi" could be somewhat advantageous but the shelves are overstocked with the stuff. if you feel the description suits you, go for it.

my band Coma in Algiers refers to our music as either "art-damage" or "lo-fi disaster". sometimes you have to add a little to get a little.

i find that it paints a particular kind of picture folks can sort of get but in the end the music speaks for itself. if you wanna market towards baby boomers some lofi retro folk, i don't think lo-fi will really work for you. it'd be a silly term for folks who think of hifi and lofi when they talk about stereos, VCRs and magnetic tape.

blah blah blah lofi is just another word for buy me; it used to have some meaning but like all things of market viability, it got spent. if you want to further sate your curiousity, check out http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=C2678

good luck with your campaign & music.