Cadence Weapon’s fifth studio album Parallel World was announced as the winner of the 2021 Polaris Music Prize on Monday (Sept. 27). The prize is awarded to the “best full-length Canadian album based on artistic merit, regardless of genre, sales or record label,” according to the organization. Cadence Weapon, a Canadian-American rapper (real name Roland “Rollie” Pemberton), hails from Edmonton, Alberta. His win was announced during an event that was streamed live from CBC Toronto’s Studio 211. This is the 16th year of the Polaris Prize, which is presented by CBC Music. Past winners include Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs (2011) which also won a Grammy as album of the year, and three albums by acts that subsequently went on to collect Grammy nominations – Caribou (2008), Kay...
Drake’s Certified Lover Boy (OVO/Republic Recordings) beat Lil Nas X’s Montero (Columbia) by the tightest of margins on last Friday’s chart, but don’t bet on either winning the current race. Drizzy’s latest drops to No. 3 and Lil Nas X’s debut album dips to No. 6. Meanwhile, Australian pop singer Natalie Imbruglia is on track for her first U.K. Top 10 album in 14 years with Firebird (BMG), new at No. 4, while Tom DeLonge’s Angels & Airwaves are flying high with Lifeforms (Rise Records), new at No. 7. If it keeps its altitude, Lifeforms will give the U.S. alternative rock outfit their first Top 10 in 15 years. Also aiming for Top 20 debuts this week are sets by Sleep Token (This Place Will Become Your Tomb at No. 11 via Spinefarm), Nao (And Then Life Was Beautiful at No. 16 via RCA), Tr...
Round Hill Music Royalty Fund Ltd. has acquired the recorded catalog of classic R&B group The O’Jays, it was announced today. The purchase encompasses 100% of the master royalty income from 532 total recordings, including such hits as “Love Train,” “Forever Mine” and “For the Love of Money.” Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed. According to catalog royalty statements from calendar years 2018-2020, 64% of the revenue generated by the group’s catalog is derived from streaming, followed by 17% sync, 10% downloads, 6% other and 3% physical. Eighty-eight percent of that revenue is generated in the U.S. The top songs ranked by revenue are “Love Train,” “Forever Mine,” “For The Love of Money,” “Back Stabbers,” “Use Ta Be My Girl,” “Cry Together,” “Stairway To Heaven”...
In the wake of yet another iteration of China’s enduring crackdown on cryptocurrency, a particularly influential narrative on Crypto Twitter suggests that by banning Bitcoin (BTC), China has definitively put itself on the dark side of the struggle, while the collective West must now resolutely throw its weight on the opposite side by embracing crypto. Granted, this framework for thinking about the relationship between political power and decentralized finance is appealing for crypto allies. Yet the news coming out of the United States gives few reasons to believe that policymakers there see the situation this way. It appears that U.S. elites are bent on preserving the incumbent financial order and restricting the growth of the digital asset space, if with a less heavy-handed toolset than t...
The fallout from China’s ongoing crackdown on the crypto sector has led to uncertainty finding its way back into the market again. At the time of writing, Bitcoin (BTC) traders continue to encounter pushback at the $43,000 level and many altcoins that had accumulated gains in the morning session are also dipping into the red. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that an early morning attempt by bulls to push the price of BTC above $44,000 was met by firm resistance but the current back and forth appears to be nothing more than consolidation. BTC/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView Here’s a look at what crypto traders and analysts are saying about the recent price moves for Bitcoin and what to be on the lookout for as the market closes out the month of Septembe...
Google, the leading indicator used to track the popularity of Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies, celebrated its 23rd anniversary on Monday. Founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin when both were students at Stanford University, the search engine has spent the majority of its 23 years of existence being one of the primary entry points to the internet. Following the inception of cryptocurrencies, Google has been the primary method to search for new coins, track market trends and learn how to buy crypto. Since internet search statistics are an excellent way to track user behavior, Google Trends has become a reliable source for understanding user interest in a near real-time fashion. Traders use the tool, which analyzes the popularity of search queries in a specific period, to identify em...
Rob Kaplan, the president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas will step down from his position after more than six years. In a Sept. 27 announcement, the Dallas Fed said Kaplan, its 13th president and CEO, would be retiring beginning Oct. 8. The 64-year-old cited recent attention to his “financial disclosure risks” in his decision to step down, likely referring to news outlets reporting that he had traded stocks in companies including Apple, Alibaba, Amazon, Facebook, Google and Tesla in 2020 while casting his vote on U.S. monetary policy. The Dallas Fed president has denied any allegations of impropriety, saying he “adhered to all Federal Reserve ethical standards and policies.” He added his “securities investing activities and disclosures met Bank compliance...
The relationship between crypto and mainstream media (MSM) is complex, and it’s probably fair to say that some in the crypto community haven’t been overjoyed with the treatment they’ve received over the years. MSM has largely ignored Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies outside of occasional reports of hacks, ransomware attacks and other illicit activities. “They’ve done a fairly poor job of coverage for the last decade and it’s almost always negative coverage,” Samson Mow, chief strategy officer at Blockstream and CEO at Pixelmatic, told Cointelegraph. “You’d be hard-pressed to find a positive piece of news about Bitcoin.” But recently, the media has found much to report upon. For instance, The Economist ran its second crypto cover piece in as many months, while on Sept. 14, a m...
Ethereum (ETH) developer Virgil Griffith has pleaded guilty to a federal charge that he conspired with North Korea to violate United States sanctions law. On Monday, Griffith pleaded guilty in New York for conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which forbids U.S. citizens from exporting technology and intellectual property to communist countries. As part of the plea deal, Griffith could face up to six-and-a-half years in prison. Formal sentencing is expected to commence in January 2022. Virgil, who served as senior researcher for the Ethereum Foundation, was arrested in November 2019 after attending a conference in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang earlier in the year. Prosecutors allege that the developer gave a presentation on how to launder mone...
Last week’s drop in Bitcoin (BTC) that saw BTC price falling from $47,358 to $43,178 has sparked fears of an extended selloff. Independent market analyst Nunya Bizniz highlighted a bearish fractal on Bitcoin’s weekly charts concerning its 21-week exponential moving average (EMA). In detail, the cryptocurrency has closed below the said support zone 18 times to date but retained its previous bullish bias only four times out of all—as shown by the dotted vertical lines in the chart below. BTC/USD daily price chart featuring its 21-week EMA. Source: Nunya Bizniz, TradingView.com In the remaining cases, a close below the 21-week EMA led Bitcoin prices extremely lower, barring a fake bearish breakout in August 2015 that soon resulted in a “tremendous bull run,...
Bitcoin bulls continued to battle with bears near the $43,000 support level on Sept. 27 as China’s crackdown on all things cryptocurrency put a halt to last week’s positive price movements and has stifled growth into the day. According to Eric Krown, a cryptocurrency trader and host of Krown’s Crypto Cave, what comes next for Bitcoin (BTC) really “depends on what timeframe you are talking about,” but he is currently focused on the more medium- to long-term outlook. In the latest episode of “The Market Report” with Cointelegraph, the cryptocurrency trader indicated that for right now, “We are probably going to range around this low-$40,000 region” and suggested that he would “be looking at this potential reversal point right here” if BTC manages to hold on to $42,000. If BTC fails to h...
Warner Music Group (WMG) is the first major recording company to partner with Twitch in a deal that will bring WMG artist channels, original music programming and more to the livestreaming platform. To start, WMG is launching artist channels for Warner Records stars Bella Poarch and Saweetie, plus Atlantic Records singer and producer Sueco, where they’ll share exclusive and behind-the-scenes content. Additionally, social media-focused digital media company IMGN — which WMG acquired last year — will produce a slate of original shows like “The Drop,” to discuss music news; “Freestyle Throwdown,” where rappers freestyle based on topics chosen by the audience; and “The One,” where guest artists perform the songs that influenced them. “...