The group was influenced by artists like the Beastie Boys, Tha Alkaholiks, A Tribe Called Quest, Wu-Tang Clan, The Roots, and The Casualties as well as by old school hip hop, funk, punk rock, and the skater culture.

[4] After graduating from Rocky Mountain High School, Smith attended University of Colorado at Boulder, but dropped out during his freshman year to focus on his music instead.

In the summer of 2009, under the moniker Pretty Lights, Smith played at several major American music festivals, such as Bonnaroo, Forecastle, Wakarusa, Rothbury, Electric Daisy Carnival, Camp Bisco, and the 10KLF.

In July 2011, he headlined at the Electric Forest in Rothbury, Michigan, at Camp Bisco in Mariaville, New York, and at the All Good Music Festival in Masontown, West Virginia, where he performed a special "once in a lifetime" track, a remix of John Denver's "Take Me Home, Country Roads."

The record label offers free downloads of all Pretty Lights albums, plus releases from PLM artists including Michal Menert, Break Science, Gramatik, Paul Basic, Eliot Lipp, and SuperVision.

[21] Following Analog Future's final show at New Orleans' Buku Music + Art Project in March 2016, Smith formed the new band Pretty Lights Live.

[22] On May 31, 2016, Smith announced that the band would embark on a five-stop "Episodic Festival" U.S. tour with two-day stops in Gilford, NH, Morrison, CO, Telluride, CO, Chicago, IL, and Nashville, TN.

[27] "[T]he only shows of the summer, [and] possibly all" of 2018[28] took place at Red Rocks Amphitheatre on August 10 and 11, celebrating the tenth consecutive year of Pretty Lights performing there.

2013 featured yet again Big Gigantic along with Pretty Lights Music godfather Michal Menert, Datsik (musician) and Keys N Krates.

2014 kept the tradition of major opening acts going strong with the return of Beats Antique who had been a PrettyNectar Alumni from when they played in 2011 in Alpharetta, GA, Exmag, Chromeo (dj set) and Elliot Lipp.

2013 also saw an extra official Basslights that was held October 18–19 at the Klipsch Amphitheater at Bayfront Park in Miami Florida, with support by PANTyRAiD, Run the Jewels, Koan Sound and Supervision.

In a 2015 article, BassLights was labeled as more than just a two-night concert, it was known as a communal gathering where fans of both Pretty Lights and BassNectar merged to share music, art, and a sense of community.