London-based esports organisation Fnatic have today unveiled details of its music label launch with an album release featuring 40+ lofi hip-hop artists.
Fnatic fans and the wider gaming community will be able to stream the album for free across all major digital service providers including Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music and Deezer.
Fnatic say their music label will inevitably open up new brand partnership opportunities alongside their existing sponsors, including BMW, Gucci, Crypto.com (which partnered with Fnatic last year) and others.
They added that the ‘additional revenue stream opened up by the launch of Fnatic’s music label (via streaming royalties) goes hand-in-hand with Fnatic’s diversified commercial approach to esports’. This includes their own pro gaming hardware peripherals brand Fnatic Gear, recently creating the world’s first Fnatic 3D scanned pro gaming mouse in partnership with BMW.
The music project was driven by Fnatic’s head of marketing – Joshua Brill – whose previous career background in the entertainment and music industry has given Fnatic an edge in appealing to the wider gaming consumer (Viacom’s MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon, alongside VICE Magazine and Warner Music Group).
“Every track title on the album is inspired directly by our esports history, our players, our community and the wider gaming world – which makes it feel directly relevant to our fans first; whilst simultaneously speaking to gamers who may not know us yet but could end up converting to becoming a Fnatic fan in the future.”
Joshua Brill, Fnatic
The release comes after Fnatic secured a Valorant franchise spot in EMEA and set a record as the only team in the world to qualify for the three biggest major tournaments: Dota 2’s The International 2022, League of Legends Worlds 2022 and Intel Extreme Masters Rio Major 2022.
Related article: What are Fnatic’s chances at the IEM Rio Major?
Fnatic also have a presence across Germany (League of Legends), UK (FIFA), UK (Valorant), Spain (League of Legends Academy Team, USA (Halo), Japan (Apex Legends, Rainbow Six), Philippines (Dota 2) and Sweden (CSGO).
The artists included in Fnatic Island Vol.1 are as follows:
- 9ick
- A!ro
- Amess
- Blue Fox
- Calvin Bennett
- Casiio
- Cecelie
- Close2u
- Cocabona
- Delaney
- Desh
- DontCry
- Dpsht
- Drkmnd
- Enluv
- Hoffy Beats
- Homson
- Hoogway
- Louk
- Maffyn
- Muni
- Nick Mosh
- Nokiaa
- Nosmoh
- No Spirit
- Pabzzz
- Pucca
- Raouf Beats
- Saito
- Satyr
- Sebastian Kamae
- Silvan
- Silvaa.Beats
- Sitting Duck
- Sleepermane
- Snug
- Stuffed Tomato
- Tah
- Ukdd
- Wieland & Ulrich
- Xander
- XXIII
Joshua Brill, head of marketing at Fnatic, said: “It’s no secret that music and gaming culture go hand-in-hand. From Travis Scott performing inside Fornite to Lil Nas X’s Worlds 2022 anthem, our eyes are always open for new ways to enrich and deepen the relationship we have with our 35m strong fanbase.
“Fnatic’s positioning as the leading esports performance brand is built around competing at the highest level alongside our commitment to inspire, empower and level up all gamers. Music is yet another catalyst for us to do just that, continuing to cast our net wider beyond esports into wider gaming segments.”
“We chose the lofi genre for our debut album because of its already intertwined relationship within gaming and esports, from its anime roots to the way it is already consumed en-masse by Gen Z and millennial gamers. An ‘”‘internet phenomenon'”‘ would be an understatement.
“Every track title on the album is inspired directly by our esports history, our players, our community and the wider gaming world – which makes it feel directly relevant to our fans first; whilst simultaneously speaking to gamers who may not know us yet but could end up converting to becoming a Fnatic fan in the future.”
Fnatic Island Vol. 1 launches today (November 9th 2022) across all major streaming platforms.
Esports and music has gone hand-in-hand in recent years. Last year, Riot Games launched its third League of Legends Pentakill album, and at the start of this year, Fnatic rivals G2 launched their own record label with a metal music track.
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Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
