If you've ever listened to a YouTube video of "lo-fi beats to study or relax to," you might have interacted with Michael Turner's music.
Turner, 26, is a full-time musician who makes pop music under the name PLVTINUM. A year and a half ago, he started spending some of his weekends producing music in what he calls the passive listening space — and quickly found "lo-fi" music production to be a "very easy" side hustle.
It's lucrative, too. Under the name Bonsai Beats — a band mostly comprised of Turner and guitarist Mike Bono — he's earned an extra $33,139 over the past year, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It.
Lo-fi stands for "low fidelity," which essentially means it lacks the high production value you'd find in most professional music. It's meant to be listened to in the background as you cook, work, study or even sleep.
That means Turner's goal is simple: quantity over quality. When he and Bono collaborate on lo-fi tracks, they set a timer — just two minutes for writing, producing and naming each song. Together, they've made almost $60,000 over the past year from 85 tracks, which only took a total of roughly three hours to create.
The alleviation of expectations that comes with lo-fi music production is "kind of therapeutic," Turner says, and the extra cash doesn't hurt. Here's how he built and manages his lo-fi music side hustle.
Producing lo-fi music is 'much simpler than people realize'
At age 18, Turner posted a YouTube video of himself singing and playing an original song, and it racked up more than a million views. "That was my first exposure to what internet virality can do, and I became addicted from then on out," he says.
Lo-fi tracks may not always rack up as many streams as Beyoncé or Taylor Swift, but they can still become popular: Lofi Girl, a popular streamer on YouTube, has 13.6 million subscribers and videos that regularly accrue millions of views.
Bonsai Beats has roughly 12,000 monthly listeners on Spotify, according to its profile page. Of its 53 tracks on the platform, only three exceed two minutes in length. One, called "Lovely Lofi," boasts more than 300,000 streams.
The production of these songs is "much simpler than people realize," and the only real cost is time, Turner says. He and Bono make the tracks using a guitar, a keyboard and Logic Pro, a popular music mixing software that currently costs $199.99.
You could just as easily use GarageBand, a software that comes free with Apple products, Turner adds.
Next, you'll probably need a distributor. Turner says he uses TuneCore, an online service that places your tracks on platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and TikTok. Its pricing ranges from a limited free version to a $49.99 annual subscription service, and Turner pays for a $29.99 mid-tier option, he says.
Paying that subscription fee means TuneCore won't keep any of your sales revenue, which contrasts against traditional distribution agencies that can claim as much as 85%, says Turner.
"The barrier to entry is so low that anyone who is a professional or casual musician can start on this as a side hustle immediately," he says. "The beauty of streaming is that the cost floor is really low ... You just put it on Spotify, and if it's the right offering, it pretty much immediately starts making money."
'This is a really exciting time in music'
The relatively low payouts from Spotify and other music streaming platforms are a common conversation topic among musicians. But for Turner, the democratization of music — or, the idea that anyone can make money using streaming platforms — is a big deal.
Other musician friends of his also have lo-fi side hustles. One published a track for sleep and relaxation, and racked up almost 20 million streams — making roughly $100,000 — as people listened to it on repeat while falling asleep, says Turner. Another friend, a writer and producer without steady income, recently sold the rights to his passive listening catalog for $1.68 million, he adds.
"Institutional finance has become interested in streaming, and anyone who has [song] streams that are recurring can get a buyout offer from a traditional investor," says Turner, adding: "It is a serious space."
In August, Turner launched his own record label, called Rebellion Records. His aim, he says, is to help further democratize the music industry — applying his production skills and online virality research to help emerging artists. His label will keep 25% of each artist's royalties, rather than the industry standard of 50-60%.
"This is a really exciting time in music," says Turner. "I'm optimistic."
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