SPORTFIVE places its own creator collective with SQVAD

Fnatic, the world’s leading esports performance brand, has today unveiled details of its music label launch with a major album release featuring 40+ of the biggest Lofi hip-hop artists in the world.

Fnatic fans and the wider gaming community will be able to stream the album for free across all major DSPs (digital service providers) including Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music and Deezer.

Though the launch is a major brand play catering to its existing fanbase, Fnatic’s music label will inevitably open up new brand partnership opportunities alongside their existing tier 1 sponsors; including BMW, Gucci, L’Oreal Men Expert, ASOS, Jack Links, Hisense, Chillblast – some of whom will no doubt be looking to harness this new asset within the Fnatic ecosystem.

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; which includes their own pro-gaming hardware peripherals brand Fnatic Gear, recently creating the world’s first 3D scanned pro-gaming mouse in partnership with BMW.

The 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).

The release comes at the end of a successful year in which Fnatic secured a well sought-after 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); leading with an unrivalled global 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).

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 on November 9th 2022 across all major streaming platforms.