Image courtesy of Imagiro's Twitter.
THEBIGGERPICTURE (London) — We have previously posted on our Instagram page about ways to help out in light of the horrific murder of George Floyd - signing petitions, donating to the relevant charities and Black Lives Matter - but for music producers, another means has emerged.
Imagiro, the 19-year-old lofi and ambient music producer known for projects like his recent EP Places I Remember, an official remix of Tennyson's Wintersleep, and Stereo Fox-released single Until I'm Home, has announced that he will be donating 100% of the proceeds from his piano MIDI plugin to the Minnesota Freedom Fund and Black Visions MN.
He said on Twitter that “what's happening right now is a horrific display of evil", explaining that donating the proceeds of the plugin is a way in which he "will help, however I can".
The Minnesota Freedom Fund pays cash bail for those who are financially unable to do so, and has been inundated with donations over the past few days from those trying to help protesters who are on the ground in Minneapolis. A Twitter challenge urging users to "match" the donations of other users has spread like wildfire, with Chicago rapper Noname's implorations to others in the music community to match her $1000 donation met by youth artists like Indonesian rapper Rich Brian, Kehlani, and Dom McLennon from the boy-band Brockhampton. Meanwhile, Black Visions MN is a group which strives to realise "dignity and equity for all", aiming to "shape a political home for Black people across Minnesota".
Various celebrities matched Noname's original donation
The plugin Imagiro created and released a few weeks back is his own childhood piano, a felted upright piano, in AU and VST format, which makes it possible to use it in most major DAWs, and on Mac and Windows. Imagiro utilised his computer programming skills to design the plugin, which has a plethora of features, like the ability to sample pitch and format shifts, edit the velocity frequency, customise the hammer volume and sample release time, and more. It costs $20, and comes with a sample pack by the iconic producer Tender Spring, who burst onto the scene around a year ago with a number of collaborative projects and features on compilations by major lofi labels.
Imagiro, whose real name is August Pemberton, was also featured on Chilled Cow's "1 Am Study Session" compilation alongside the likes of Rook1e, the aforementioned Tender Spring, Sarcastic Sounds, Kupla and Pandrezz. Head over to vst.imagiromusic.com to purchase the plugin; August also mentioned on Twitter that customers can personally request that their purchase goes towards a different relevant charity if they so desire.