Lo-Fi Hip Hop YouTube Channels Reporting Significant Boost During Quarantine
Some accounts have reported up to 46-percent increases in views.
With the majority of consumers stuck inside for the foreseeable future, many are looking to the Internet for distractions. According to a report from The Verge, many are specifically turning to lo-fi hip hop channels.
Many of these channels stream music inspired by J. Dilla and Nujabes for students attempting to study. The streams run constantly, with built-in live chats to go along with them. Since March, the channel ChilledCow has gained 340,000 subscribers. Channel College Music reported a 40 percent increase in the last month and a 46 percent increase in views.
Luke Pritchard co-founded the College Music page. The increase in subscribers inspired him to launch a new stream, "lofi beats to quarantine and stay indoors to" with new visuals and graphics about social distancing. The stream hit over 17 million views in a couple of weeks.
According to the report, YouTube has seen a 590 percent increase in uploads of videos with the term "at home" in the title.
Nick Stafford, who runs the Nickolaas channel, also reported an increase in views. He also believes the pandemic is to blame.
"This is a fairly obvious correlation though," he said. "Folks have nothing to do, and that leaves them open to exploring the furthest corners of YouTube...lo-fi streams are a great way to kill time, and meet people from around the world too! So it's a win-win."