Pop Star Bjork to Accept Cryptocurrency Payments for New Album

Icelandic singer Bjork is to let fans pay with cryptocurrencies when they purchase her forthcoming album dubbed "Utopia."

With British blockchain startup Blockpool partnering on the technical side, Bjork will accept pre-orders for the album in four digital currencies – bitcoin, audiocoin, litecoin and dashcoin – as well as via the usual credit/debit cards and PayPal options, Musically reports. The musician said in a Tweet that Utopia, her ninth album, will be released on Nov. 24.

Fans who pre-order the album directly from the artist or her label One Little Indian will further receive a reward of 100 audiocoins – a cryptocurrency designed specifically for music industry – which can then be converted into other cryptocurrencies or into fiat money, the report adds.

Kevin Bacon, CEO of Blockpool, told the industry news source:

"People have done things with crypto and artists before, but this is the first time a global artist has done anything like this. While it will be interesting to see how the crypto community responds to this, Utopia is also a gateway for people to go into crypto for the first time."

Bacon added that Blockpool, which is building a cryptocurrency payments plugin for the label's online store, would help in providing information for people who "don’t know anything about crypto."

Aside from the addition of cryptocurrency payments for music releases, various players now looking to blockchain technology to transform the way the music industry rewards artists and writers. Further, Slovenian concert-booking platform Viberate is aiming to disrupt the industry with blockchain, and boasts bitcoin entrepreneur Charlie Shrem as an advisor.

Bjork image via Shutterstock