Live 8 Acts Give Back
Live 8 organizers don't want your money, and apparently neither do the musicians who participated in the historic mega-concerts either.
While last Saturday's Live 8 festivities fulfilled Bob Geldof's slogan of "Making Poverty History" by raising awareness of the problems plaguing Africa, many of the big-name acts who performed at the rallies staged in major cities around the world want to keep up the momentum.
The reunited Pink Floyd, whose lineup featured cofounder and bassist Roger Waters for the first time since 1981, led by example, pledging to donate profits earned from soaring album sales to charity in the wake of the gigs, which were watched by millions around the globe.
"Though the main objective has been to raise consciousness and put pressure on the G8 leaders, I will not profit from the concert," guitarist David Gilmour said in a statement Monday, referring to the Live 8 campaign's goal of persuading global leaders meeting at the G8 summit Wednesday in Gleneagles, Scotland, to do more to fight poverty.
Following the band's performance at London's Hyde Park show, sales of its greatest hits collection, Echoes, skyrocketed 1,343 percent in the U.K. alone, according to British record retailer HMV.
"If other artists feel like donating their extra royalties to charity, perhaps then the record companies could be persuaded to make a similar gesture and that would be a bonus," he said. "This is money that should be used to save lives."
By Wednesday, several other A-list artists had heeded the call. The Who, Paul McCartney and Annie Lennox, all of whom saw a big boost in sales after their appearances, agreed to make similar pledges, according to the BBC.
"The band are impressed with what Pink Floyd are doing, and should there be any significant extra royalties coming in they will look to doing the same," said a publicist for the Who.
Sales of the Who's best-of compilation Then & Now have surged 863 percent, while sales of the Eurythmics' Greatest Hits, featuring Lennox, jumped 500 percent. Up-and-coming bands like the Killers, Razorlight, Scissor Sisters and Keane also saw 100 percent increases in album sales in the U.K. (The U.S. sales figures won't be available until next week.)
Already on the donation bandwagon is Universal Music, which rush-released the single of McCartney and U2's concert-opening rendition of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" backed by McCartney's "Long and Winding Road" to online outlets, including Apple's iTunes Music Store, where it quickly topped the charts.
No word whether EMI will donate any of its profits. The music giant, which controls the DVD rights for six of Live 8's eight concerts, has been urging eBay to shut down auctions of DVDs featuring the shows that were apparently made from TV and Internet feeds.
The final Live 8 concert is taking place Wednesday in Edinburgh to coincide with the opening of the G8 summit. Lennox, James Brown, Travis, the Corrs, Snow Patrol, the Proclaimers and Youssou N'Dour are among the performers. Susan Sarandon also turned up to offer her support.
"If [the G8 leaders] don't care, they're going to have to do it publicly," said Sarandon at the concert.
At the same time, Geldof and U2's Bono are meeting with several G8 leaders, including President Bush, to press them to take action on debt relief, trade imbalance and foreign aid for Africa.
For his efforts on behalf of Africa's poor, Geldof, 53, was also nominated Wednesday for a 2006 Nobel Peace Prize by a member of Norway's parliament. The disheveled rocker was nominated once before for his work organizing 1985's Live Aid charity concert to help famine victims in Ethiopia.
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