Student Loan Company Sallie Mae Drops Lo-Fi Study Album

GYK Antler and Sallie Mae have just dropped a Lo-Fi album, right in time for finals (the most stressful time of the year), designed to help the students they serve achieve a 'sound mind' and crush their exams.

Grounded in science and structured using the Pomodoro method, the 'Sound Mind' 17-track album features 25-min focus and five-min break periods to boost brain power and help students study and relax. And with 73.4% of low-fidelity listeners falling between the ages of 18-34, Sallie Mae is aiming to arm this core student demographic with a resource proven to help stimulate learning, boost mood and filter out distractions.

Featuring brand new Lo-Fi beats and soft, ambient instrumental music that reaches a range of both younger and older audiences and fans, the album includes tracks from:

• Issac Dunbar – alternative pop singer-songwriter with 824K monthly Spotify listeners
• Melina Mae Cortez Duterte (Jay Som) – multi-instrumentalist with 649K monthly Spotify listeners
• TOLEDO – indie rock duo with 416K monthly Spotify listeners
• Juan Ariza (musicariza) – producer, composer and guitarist with 236K monthly Spotify listeners
• Chris Plante (modslee) – producer, composer and sound engineer

Launched with creative agency GYK Antler, the album is now streaming on Spotify and complemented by a 55-minute YouTube 'album visualiser' video that features all 17 tracks set to a looping sequence of artwork designed to enhance the calming and peaceful mood of the music.

Paying tribute to the Lo-Fi aesthetic already established within the genre, the art direction encompasses three visual worlds that embody how the album makes you feel. Musician partners will also get the word out to their 2.1 million collective monthly listeners on Spotify. And college micro-influencer partners will get branded merch featuring the 'Sound Mind.'

In a major departure for the fin services category, this initiative demonstrates how Sallie Mae is showing up for the people currently using their services, meeting them where they’re already plugged in, with free resources and practical tools during one of the toughest times during their educational journey. They want to engage students, provide support and add value throughout the customer lifecycle; not just at the point of acquisition.

This album drop, along with a number of other brand initiatives launched the past two years, are all part of Sallie Mae’s purposeful shift from a student financial services company to a student support system, as they work to ensure the students they serve:

1. can get access to free money first, before turning to loans, and

2. have the resources they need to build confidence in their financial literacy, and ultimately reduce stress and improve mental health by achieving greater control of their educational journey.

John Mathieu, creative director at GYK Antler said, "This project was born out of an ask from our clients to provide a tool for students that has nothing to do with selling them something. Typically, loan providers show up when you’re 18 – when you need a loan, and again when you need to pay it back– so it was exciting to explore ways to provide real value to students while they’re actually still in school. It’s just so different from what anyone else is doing in the category."

Cristin Barth, creative director at GYK Antler said, "If you told 18-year-old me that I'd be launching a lo-fi album with Sallie Mae, I would have said you're crazy. I couldn't be prouder of this partnership and our brave clients who are willing to do big, bold things like this."