The Glitch Mob Was Paid in Dogecoin by a Fan Who Pirated Their Unreleased Album in 2014 and Now It’s Worth $15K

Back in 2014, before The Glitch Mob released their sophomore album Love Death Immortality, one fan of the group pirated the album, but tipped the band 20,000 Dogecoin in an effort to eventually pay for it. Today, The Glitch Mob recalled this and discovered that they now have 48,319 Dogecoin, which is currently worth about $15,000 USD.

The larger number of Dogecoin is also thanks to the tip. After one Redditor documented the initial ‘payment’ in 2014, The Glitch Mob’s official account responded, asking how to accept Dogecoin as payment for their music. The Redditor showed them how to add that option to their website, and The Glitch Mob began accepting payments in Dogecoin. Enough fans went with this option until the EDM group ended up with the 48,319 they have today.

The Glitch Mob revealed that they had regained access to their Dogecoin through a few posts on their Instagram story, which are screen capped at the below. They chronicled how they looked back at the 2014 tip and the Reddit post before gaining access to their Dogecoin wallet through an old computer. 

So, the group was essentially paid $15,000 for the album thanks to the fan, who had phrased their original tweet like a 2014 doge meme, “Ohh now I payed for it! so future money – very pre release wow!” The Glitch Mob also deserve credit for taking a cryptocurrency modeled after a meme seriously and holding onto the investment until it grew to its current value.

As this story goes to show, Dogecoin is quite viable cryptocurrency. It’s a “peer-to-peer digital currency” which began as a joke and satire of how cryptocurrencies can be created. However, it’s proved to be a worthy investment for plenty of people and has enjoyed some buzz lately thanks to its recent growth in value.

Love Death Immortality was the follow-up to The Glitch Mob’s iconic debut Drink the Sea (2010). They’ve only released one other album since then, 2018’s See Without Eyes, but have kept collaborations and remixes coming and shared three-song Chemicals EP in March 2020. The Glitch Mob had also intended to go on a Spring 2020 tour in celebration of Drink the Sea’s 10th anniversary, but they ran into the COVID-19 quarantine like so many other artists.

One of the group’s members, Edward Ma, shared his first new edIT album since 2007 this February. The album, Come to Grips, shows edIT blending the modern future bass sound with the glitchy electronics that his previous two albums and The Glitch Mob’s early albums were known for.