B. Dolan held the #NetherRap virtual Minecraft festival last November, which raised over $6,000 for musicians who couldn’t tour during the COVID-19 pandemic. The musician and organizer is now back with Galactic Federation of Musicians & Allied Workers, another virtual Minecraft festival which will raise funds for the Union of Musicians and Allied Workers. The union recently sparked global protests against music streaming service Spotify, which took place across 10 American cities, Europe, Asia and Latin America. The event will take place from April 9 and 10, with sign-ups for the virtual event held here. The stream will also be broadcast on YouTube the day of the event.

The event will feature over 20 artists including Eve 6, Thursday, Ted Leo, Backxwash, Julia Holter, Kimya Dawson, Mary Lattimore, Palberta, Pictureplane, Xenia Rubinos, Vockah Redu. The event has also released a trailer, showing how the virtual venue will look, while featuring the track “Pleasure Garden” from Pictureplane’s The Alien Body mixtape. The virtual venue was designed by a Minecraft collective called THE MISFIT SOCIETY, who designed a sci-fi setting complete with UFOs, according to the trailer.

“The #NetherRap builders reached out to the newly formed UNION OF MUSICIANS AND ALLIED WORKERS (UMAW), who had formed during the pandemic to demand safer venues, equity from streaming services, and transparency from the music industry, and offered to throw a benefit show in Minecraft,” a statement to the BrooklynVegan reads.

Minecraft has hosted a number of prominent virtual festivals throughout the last year, including Virtual Square Garden, featuring hosts 100 gecs, Charli XCX, Cashmere Cat and Kero Kero Bonito, Block By Blockwest featuring Pussy Riot, Fever 333 and Citizen, Electric Blockaloo featuring Steve Aoki, A-Trak and Deadmau5 and Nether Meant featuring Anamanaguchi, American Football and HANA.

Photo Credit: Marv Watson