FEATURES
An Introductory Guide to NFTs in the Music Industry
Last week, rock band Kings of Leon became the first band to release an album as an NFT, expanding the possibilities for crypto and blockchain technology in the music industry. If that first sentence already lost you, you’ve come to the right place. NFTs are undoubtedly the buzziest new topic in music and for good reason. In February 2021 alone, NFTs earned nearly 22 million dollars in the music industry, according to data collected by Water & Music, but it’s much like explaining the Internet to someone in the ’90s who has never seen it before. NFTs are highly conceptual and unprecedented, but it makes sense once you get used to the idea. Consider this article your true introductory guide to NFTs in the music business, wherein, we will break down the most important characteristics of th...
Women’s History Month Tribute: Bow Wow Wow’s Annabella Lwin
I lived in London in the ‘80s, studying fashion while working with a clothing designer. On the weekends we’d hit the different markets, selling the original pieces we’d made. Portobello Market and Kensington were the main markets. Kensington was the famous underground market that featured independent fashion designers, and everything that came out of there was original, and helped shape the pop culture of fashion during the decade. The streets and clubs of London were filled with people wearing the clothes being hawked at Kensington, amongst others. I would spot Boy George, Siouxsie and the Banshees and other luminaries of the emerging post-punk new wave scene on most days and nights while clubbing. Kensington was very mysterious and spooky, like walking into a creepy Disney ride. The...
Growing Female Talent in the Tech Workforce
Sourced from TechCabal International Women’s Day, 8 March 2021, is a celebration of progress and recognition of work that still needs to be done to advance women in business and society. In an annual study produced by the World Bank titled “Women, Business and the Law 2021” the gender inequality amidst the global COVID-19 Pandemic is explored looking at eight key pillars. The pillars are mobility, workplace, pay, marriage, parenthood, entrepreneurship, assets and pension. The report analyses laws and regulations affecting women’s economic opportunities in 190 countries and shows promising results. Results show that despite the difficulties of the global pandemic, many economies have made gender equality a priority. The results are encouraging with every region surveyed improving its a...
Jasmine Harrison, Youngest Woman to Row Solo Across Any Ocean, on How Music Powered Her Boat
Jasmine Harrison is not a musician. She has never picked up a microphone or downloaded music production software. She’s only danced to one song in her entire life, albeit an embarrassing one. But after making history as the youngest woman to row solo across any ocean, she is living proof that music can propel anyone to do extraordinary things. Accompanied by nothing but a playlist and the mesmeric, repetitive splosh of her oar slicing the ocean’s surface, Harrison, 21, traversed the Atlantic Ocean in 70 days, 3 hours and 48 minutes. However, with a bubbly naiveté rarely found in a barnstorming, record-breaking heroine, you wouldn’t know it when speaking to her. And after the enormity of her accomplishment finally sunk in, even she can’t believe it was her....
Why International Women’s Day Is Important to Me: Aluna, TOKiMONSTA, More Speak Out
Since 1975, International Women’s Day has been designated as a global day of recognition for women, taking place annually on March 8th. It also coincides with the American Women’s History Month. But historically, the event dates back to the early 1900s, linked to early feminist and workers’ rights movements. From protest movements to a celebration of women’s suffrage, the date has become a focal point and rallying cry for gender equity worldwide. It’s no secret that we’ve still got a long way to go in ensuring equal opportunities, pay and platforms for women, along with non-binary individuals. This is especially true in the electronic music industry—a 2020 study from the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative found only 21.7% of artists in th...
Song of the Week: Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak Play It Smooth as Silk Sonic on “Leave the Door Open”
Song of the Week breaks down and talks about the song we just can’t get out of our head each week. Find these songs and more on our Spotify Top Songs playlist. For our favorite new songs from emerging artists, check out our Spotify New Sounds playlist. This week, Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak dropped their first single as Silk Sonic. Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak have teamed up under the name Silk Sonic, which seems to have been a good name choice. Their first single, “Leave the Door Open”, is nothing if not luxurious, velvety goodness. The full-length project, An Evening with Silk Sonic, reunites the two artists who previously toured together with .Paak as an opening act on Bruno Mars’ 2017 “24K Magic World Tour”. Sonically, “Leave the Door Open” is a return to form for Bruno Mars, who ha...
2005-2008 Dodge Magnum History: Mopar’s Wonderful Muscle Wagon
Applied to neither a gun nor private investigator, Dodge’s most recent use of the Magnum name was slapped instead on a station wagon. Not just any wagon, the Magnum was based on the then-new Charger sedan and sold for the 2005 through 2008 model years. So, where did this Charger station wagon go? Dodge dropped the Magnum after 2008 for reasons that should become clear if you think about what happened to the economy that year. Before that, the Magnum sold decently—for a station wagon—in America, with sales topping the 50,000 mark at least one year. Weirder still, Dodge refreshed the Magnum for 2008, meaning the updated model lived for a single year before it was culled. See all 85 photos If you were to ask us, the Dodge Magnum wagon suffered a premature death—can you imagine...
Why Cyber Attacks are Technology’s ‘Natural’ Disasters
Sourced from Forbes The SolarWinds attack was stunning in its scope and scale. If it were an earthquake, it would be 9.9 on the Richter scale. As digital transformation accelerates in 2021 and beyond—and applications accelerate as central enablers of business and all manner of digital life—cyberattacks have become technology’s natural disasters. Both have the power for profound devastation, threaten our sense of safety, and are (sadly) the reality of our world today. There is, however, one notable difference between a natural disaster and cybercrime. It is within our control to reduce the devastating impact of cybercrime. We can learn from the weaknesses the SolarWinds attack exposed and use this event as a catalyst for behaviour changes that will materially reduce the impact of future att...
Regional Justice Center Break Down New Album Crime and Punishment Track by Track: Stream
In our Track by Track feature, artists guide listeners through each track on their latest release. Here, Regional Justice Center singer Ian Shelton pulls back the curtain on the band’s new album Crime and Punishment. Hardcore act Regional Justice Center have unleashed their new album, Crime and Punishment, out now via Closed Casket Activities. The LP clocks in at a blistering 13 minutes but leaves an impression that lasts far longer. The album shares its name with the legendary novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky and tackles similarly weighty themes of postmodern existence. As RJC vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Ian Shelton explains in the remarks below, many real-life events inspired the passionate outbursts of anger and disillusionment heard throughout Crime and Punishment. Shelton previously ...
EDM.com Presents “Quarantini Chats” Episode #15: BLVK JVCK
Whether they’re bedazzling eggs with rhinestones, baking their own sourdough from scratch, or concocting absurd cocktails, those in the social media community at large have embraced their creativity during their time in quarantine. Harnessing that creativity and manifesting it into the dance music community, EDM.com’s Instagram Live interview series “Quarantini Chats” invites the brightest music producers and DJs in the game to join our platform and craft a custom cocktail as they sip and dive into a wide range of topics with our special guest hosts, The Hotel Lobby. As he continues to stomp his way through the trap and dubstep scenes with his roaring, unapologetic brand of bass music, famed electronic producer BLVK JVCK is joining EDM.com for the 15th episode ...
Lucky 13
Only Mississippian Jimbo Mathus and Chicagoan Andrew Bird could compose an album so different from their platinum-selling Squirrel Nut Zippers’ roots, yet with the same sense of tender nostalgia that will endure until the end of time. Co-written and performed exclusively by the two of them, their new record, These 13, is undoubtedly American folk, an homage to tradition, songwriting, and a sound embodying an endless optimism, even in its most sentimental songs. This is the kind of album you’ll listen to over and over, because it adapts to every phase, every mood, each lyric laced with heart-wrenching and, sometimes, lighthearted simplicity. It’s a museum-worthy, American-quilt-apple-pie comfort, perfect for our times right now. “I’ve never made a record that was more fun to make and as eas...
The Sustenance of Job Creation During a Digital Evolution Epoch
Tau Mashigo CTO Group IT, Standard Bank As the future pushes ahead unabated, the set of circumstances emerging spark a lot of imagination. We no longer just rely on linear cognitive capabilities that give rise to incremental change, but rather parallelised, and intertwined capabilities that result in exponential progress. The world is filling up with opportunities waiting to be discovered. The Fourth Industrial Revolution is characterised by the on-setting of new capabilities stemming from exponential developments in a multiplicity of domain technologies including robotics, artificial intelligence, nanotechnologies, quantum computing, 3D printing, superfast telecommunications, and the internet of things. While these can be leveraged independently of each other, real impact can be exp...
