Fnatic Island Vol.1: A lofi music album from Fnatic

Fnatic enters the music biz with the release of the lo-fi hip-hop album Fnatic Island Vol. 1.

Fnatic has released a lo-fi music album, Fnatic Island Vol.1, which is available for free streaming across all major digital service providers, including Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, and Deezer. The album includes 31 lo-fi hip-hop tracks composed in collaboration with 40 of the most popular lo-fi hip-hop artists worldwide including 9ick, A!ro, Blue Fox, Calvin Bennett, and Amess. The esports-inspired instrumental compositions on the album promise to give a relaxing vibe throughout its 77-minute running time. Furthermore, the album won’t be initially available royalty-free to streamers to use during live streams or videos, though this could possibly change in the future.

 

With the release of Fnatic Island, the organization continues its prior foray into music. The organization collaborated with UK hip-hop artist Che Lingo in April to launch its first album. The project was led by Joshua Brill, Head of Marketing at Fnatic. Joshua’s prior experience in the music and entertainment sectors has given Fnatic the chance to connect with a larger gaming audience. The release marks the conclusion of a fruitful year for Fnatic, which saw them win a franchise spot for Valorant in EMEA and set a record by becoming the first team ever to qualify for all three major esports events.

Across their respective esports titles, Fnatic’s rosters made it to The International 2022, League of Legends Worlds 2022, and Intel Extreme Masters Rio Major 2022. Fnatic’s expanded commercial approach to esports complements the new revenue stream generated by the launch of its music label through streaming royalties. The European organization already counts BMW, Gucci, L’Oreal Men Expert, ASOS, Jack Links, Hisense, and Chillblast among its sponsors. 

The bond between Esports and music continues to grow together

Although the new album is a fantastic achievement in and of itself, Fnatic is not the first esports organization to launch a record label. G2 Esports unveiled its own record label with a power metal anthem back in January. The metal anthem, titled “Our Way,” features many popular artists, including Jason Richardson, Luke Holland, and Noora Louhimo. Along with Tina Guo, who has previously worked popular title Cyberpunk 2077 and the blockbuster movie Dune, the song also features YouTuber Taylor Davis.

In 2020, Spotify partnered with Riot to become an exclusive audio streaming partner for League of Legends’ international tournaments. This led to the creation of a League of Legends hub on Spotify, which included playlists, podcasts, and music created around the game. Last year, the Esports Player League partnered with Warner Music Asia to allow the integration of music owned by the record label into its platform. As more and more brands are entering the industry with sponsorship deals and collaboration, we will likely see more investment and attention paid to user-generated content around esports.

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