Rediscovering the Retro-Innovation: The Success of Lofi Girl

Have you heard of Lofi Girl? Behind this name lies a site for broadcasting elevator music, revamped and renamed as “lofi hip-hop,” where between 30,000 and 50,000 people connect each day. This stream is mainly found on YouTube with images of a student at her desk, hence the name, Lofi Girl. Ideal for those seeking concentration, this innovation harks back to its nearly centenarian ancestor, the “muzak.” An opportunity to discover a sometimes forgotten form of innovation: retro-innovation.

Since March 11, 2026, the site Arte.tv has been offering “A history of elevator music. From muzak to streaming.” This documentary by David Unger is rigorous and fascinating. It highlights that functional music, born almost a century ago, is now ubiquitous in the playlists offered by streaming platforms like Deezer and Spotify.

But delving even deeper into the analysis, a connection can be made between elevator music and new online music broadcasting services like “Lofi Girl.” More generally, understanding this lineage provides an opportunity to highlight the benefits of a form of innovation still too little studied: retro-innovation.

Aseptic Music, Without Emotions

As early as the 1930s, American George Squier had the intuition that there was a market for broadcasting programs meant to be heard more than listened to. He then founded the company Muzak, which offered aseptic music devoid of emotional substance and artistic purpose: a mix of well-known classical tunes and jazz pieces, accompanied by violin arpeggios, choirs, and a hint of swing.

In the 1950s-1960s, Muzak experienced its golden age. Study after study promised its clients increased worker productivity, reduced absenteeism, improved concentration and morale among employees, and even a decrease in blood pressure!

Read more: Nostalgia, a powerful marketing lever

Impressive Success

Its success was so impressive that record companies followed suit and ventured into producing this music now known as “easy listening.” Capitol launched the series “Background Music,” Mercury followed suit with “Music To Live By,” and Columbia with its collection “Music for Gracious Living.” Thematic records with unlikely titles and covers started emerging, which today may raise a smile or even feel a bit offbeat: “Music for Dreaming, Music for Barbecue, Music for Lovers Only, Music for Bachelors, Music for Cooking Gas, Music to Strip by,” and more.

Muzak continued to offer its music until the early 21st century, but the rise of music radios and the advent of streaming led to its decline. Declared bankrupt in 2011, it was acquired by Mood Media, a Canadian company specializing in audiovisual solutions for businesses. However, the idea of offering music by separating aesthetic and utilitarian functions has not disappeared. It is even the origin of a recent phenomenon that both fascinates and puzzles: the enthusiasm for Lofi Girl.

The Lofi Girl Phenomenon

Today, it is possible to listen to live-streamed music on YouTube 24/7 on the Lofi Girl channel. Instrumental tracks with simple melodies, deep bass, and particularly slow hip-hop-inspired rhythms can be heard. These soothing tunes, meant to facilitate concentration and reflection, are simply accompanied by an animated image reminiscent of a Miyazaki film: a young girl taking notes in a notebook and occasionally looking at her cat lounging by the window.

Conceived in 2015 by Dimitri Somoguy, a 20-year-old French student at the time, this channel greatly benefited from the successive lockdowns imposed by the Covid-19 crisis, allowing internet users worldwide to better cope with isolation and avoid procrastination during remote work. The channel now has over 15.5 million subscribers.

Between 30,000 and 50,000 people are connected simultaneously and enjoy a different program each day. Around the Lofi Girl character now revolves a fan community offering online dialogue services, social networking, smartphone apps, derivative products, and even events to follow online.

Partnerships to Monetize the Audience

There are many similarities between the Muzak company and Dimitri Somoguy’s creation. In both cases, the goal is to continuously broadcast music to subscribers while highlighting specific properties of the content offered. The original channel, Lofi Hip Hop Radio, is supposed to aid in reflection and relaxation, while subsequent channels created due to their success offer programs conducive to concentration, gaming, dreaming, good vibes, and more.

To monetize its audience, Lofi Girl has been engaging in partnerships with several brands. In 2023, a music program designed for playing with Legos was developed in collaboration with the famous Danish brand. Similarly, in March 2024, a playlist called “A Very French Journey” was launched to support the launch of the Renault 5 electric car. More broadly, the site Lofigirl.com now offers licensed streaming offerings for stores, entertainment venues, advertising agencies, and more.

An Unexpected Revival

Independently of its undeniable success, Dimitri Somoguy’s project should not be seen as a completely unprecedented break in the history of the music industry, but rather as a revival of a concept, functional music, considered nearly a century ago.

In its own way, Dimitri Somoguy has demonstrated the power of retro-innovation: he managed to introduce novelty in an established field not based on a fundamental need that others had detected before him, but on how to satisfy it and exploit it from an economic standpoint.

An Emblematic Example of Retro-Innovation

Retro-innovation can be defined as the reutilization of old practices, ideas, or technologies that are adapted to a new context. In other words, it involves offering a method, product, or service to the market that is perceived as new by the target population, even though it draws on elements previously developed in a more or less distant past. Three generic types of retro-innovation can be considered:

• retro-innovation “on the form,” which involves integrating elements of appearance or design from a bygone era into a new offering;
• retro-innovation “on the need,” which aims to fulfill new expectations using old forgotten solutions;
• retro-innovation “on the format,” which revisits an old offering while benefiting from new technologies.

Retro-innovation on the form is perhaps the easiest to envision and there are numerous examples. The global success of Lorina lemonade, after reintegrating glass bottles and ceramic caps, or Smeg refrigerators with vintage design, are excellent illustrations. It often leverages consumers’ attraction to “retro” products and evocative forms of an often idealized era. This nostalgia marketing is generally considered a particularly effective strategy in many sectors, and the music industry is no exception.

Reviving Abandoned Solutions

Retro-innovation on the need seeks to leverage old solutions that were abandoned not because they were “bad,” but due to economic, political, or societal changes. Deposit services for glass containers disappeared with the arrival of plastic, considered a cheap and practical material at the time. However, increasing awareness of its catastrophic environmental effects could lead to a potential return of deposit solutions, not in their original form but utilizing modern technologies like smartphone apps, QR codes, geolocation, and more.

Lastly, retro-innovation on the format involves taking successful old concepts that have fallen by the wayside and updating them with new technologies. Lofi Girl embodies all the characteristics of retro-innovation on the format. Interestingly, this type of approach remains underexplored in specialized literature despite the potentially interesting results it can achieve.

Starting Anew for Innovation

Our research shows that two main avenues can be explored. Firstly, examining patents can be particularly interesting in a retro-innovation process. Many patents do not lead to new offers: the patent holder fails to capitalize on their innovation, competing inventions have market favor, consumers remain loyal to proven solutions, and so on.

Examining old patents that have fallen into the public domain can help rediscover inventions that may have failed but could have a “second chance” in a new context.

A Matter of Standards

Retro-innovation can also draw on the analysis of the formation phases of standard designs typical of the development cycles of new markets. A dominant design signifies a configuration that becomes so prevalent that competitors in the same industry must adopt it to survive and thrive. For example, the emerging typewriter market saw a fierce battle between different keyboard types before the QWERTY layout prevailed.

Similarly, in the music industry, there was a confrontation between Edison, a proponent of cylinder-shaped media, and Emile Berliner, an advocate of the disc format that ultimately won out. During these periods of “creative ferment” where the potential of new technologies is not well understood, the market is still being shaped, and use cases have not yet emerged, entrepreneurs abound with initiatives, seeking to differentiate themselves, failing, starting over, and trying again. The “pre-design” periods are both fascinating for historians to study and potentially rich in ideas to be reclaimed by innovators.

A Twist of History?

George Squier’s initial dream was to offer the public music through subscription, via domestic electric lines, and then the telephone network. In opposition to the eventually dominant wireless radio, he was forced to explore other market segments. By offering his programs to companies worldwide, he not only created a giant in functional music but also allowed a line of innovations to emerge and flourish for over a century.

This history should inspire all innovators and urge them to occasionally look back to move forward.