Dance, Donate, Decentralize: COVID-19 Charity Concert Goes Live

Lockdown shouldn’t mean pop and lock-down. That’s just one takeaway from today’s free electronic dance music concert organized by The Giving Block and Multiplied to benefit charities on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The concert is live streamed on May 5th from 6 pm - 10 pm Eastern Time (10 pm - 2 am GMT) and features some of the most popular EDM artists in the club world — including blockchain advocate 3LAU, Grammy award-winner RAC, Kill Paris, and ill.Gates.

3LAU has remixed artists such as Rihanna, Katy Perry, Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande, while RAC counts U2, Bob Marley and Lady Gaga among the artists whose work he has reimagined.

ill.Gates has promised to share previous collaborations with Bassnectar and the Beastie Boys, while Kill Paris may dig out his remixed version of Nelly Furtado’s “Parking Lot” or The Chainsmokers’ “Paris”. 

(Staying in the) House Music

As part of Bitcoin Tuesday and the #CryptoCOVID19 initiative, a widely-adopted cryptocurrency effort that has already raised over $400,000 for multiple charities, the Dance, Donate, Decentralize (D3) concert is also supporting Giving Tuesday.

Giving Tuesday is a global generosity movement unleashing the power of people and organizations to transform their communities and the world. The event will benefit more than 17 charitable organizations including: 

Save the Children

Pencils of Promise

Mona Foundation 

International Medical Corps

The Water Project

No Kid Hungry

Team Rubicon

Ben Noble of Multiplied noted that:

“Crypto natives are used to working with distance between “employees.” They know how to be digital and decentralized. In many ways, crypto felt prepared for COVID. But it’s inspiring to see how charitable organizations can mobilize quickly with support from strong communities. And this event unifies three major communities: crypto, EDM and charity.”

Michael Earley of The Giving Block explained that “mass quarantines and social distancing are sidelining many would-be philanthropists. D3 presents an opportunity to get involved with a charitable cause virtually, while also enjoying some of the top EDM artists in the world.”

The concert is supported by a plethora of crypto companies including Cointelegraph, Gemini, Brave, and MoonPay, and will feature a surprise appearance by a popular actor who hasn’t been able to attend The Office during lockdown.

I’ll give you a clue: he’s seriously into some phat beets, too.