Rhiannon Giddens challenges the perceived whiteness of American folk music You could be forgiven for thinking otherwise these days, but folk music isn’t actually just about bearded white dudes who, say, hole themselves up in cabins for months to get in their feels (not to name any names). Black folk artist Rhiannon Giddens, founder of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, is pushing back against that stereotype on her new solo album, and she has plenty of underrecognized folk history to back her up. [TrackRecord]
The blockchain tech behind Bitcoin is making its way into the music industry What are blockchains, and why are they supposedly changing everything? Fact answers the first question pretty succinctly: “a blockchain allows people to connect and transact on a ‘peer to peer’ basis, as opposed to through a third party like a bank.” Cool—sounds like the money guys have finally figured out how torrenting works. As for the “changing everything” part, well, that’s a little more complicated—but there’s some hope that this technology will make it easier to ensure that musicians get paid when their work is streamed. [Fact]
