Microgenre

A microgenre is a specialized or niche genre.^[1] The term has been used since at least the 1970s to describe highly specific subgenres of music, literature, film, and art.^[2] In music, examples include the myriad sub-subgenres of heavy metal and electronic music.^[3] Some genres are sometimes retroactively created by record dealers and collectors as a way to increase the monetary value of certain records, with early examples including Northern soul, freakbeat, garage punk, and sunshine pop. By the early 2010s, most microgenres were linked and defined through various outlets on the Internet, usually as part of generating popularity and hype for a newly perceived trend.^[4] Examples of these include chillwave, witch house, seapunk, shitgaze, and vaporwave.