Band Aid 30 became fastest selling single of 2014 when it was released yesterday, with 206,000 people downloading it according to the Official Charts Company.
Sir Bob Geldof revealed that following the single’s debut on X Factor on Sunday night, text donations and pre-orders had already raised £1m, which will be used for projects fighting the spread of Ebola in West Africa.
The download costs 99p and when the CD is released in three weeks’ time it will cost £3.99. All proceeds from the sales will go to the Band Aid Trust.
Band Aid has also teamed up with the My Celebrity Diary app, providing users with updates about the single’s progress and the ability to unlock behind-the-scenes content by donating £1.99.
Artists appearing on the updated version of ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas’ include One Direction, Ed Sheeran, Rita Ora and Chris Martin.
The original version was released in 1984 and sold approximately 200,000 copies in two days and Band Aid 20 in 2004 sold 297,000 in its first week. The 1984 version raised £8m to support people affected by the famine in Ethiopia.
George Osborne has agreed to waive the VAT on this year’s single. He said: “It’s fantastic that he’s got so many musicians together again to help fight Ebola – and I wanted to make sure every penny raised goes to combat this terrible disease.”
Backlash
The rapper Fuse ODG has revealed that he turned down the invitation to take part in this year’s fundraising effort, claiming that the song’s message about Africa is outdated and will do more harm in the long run.
Writing in today’s Guardian he said that he particularly disagreed with the line ‘there is no peace and joy in West Africa this Christmas’ because it directly contrasted with his experience of Christmas in Ghana.
“That image of poverty and famine is extremely powerful psychologically. With decades of such imagery being pumped out, the average Westerner is likely to donate £2 a month or buy a charity single that gives them a nice warm fuzzy feeling; but they are much less likely to want to go on holiday to, or invest in, Africa,” he said.
Meanwhile Liberian academic Neajai Pailey told Al Jazeera that charity songs are “not only patronising, they’re redundant and unoriginal” and pointed out that there are already two songs by African artists raising money to fight the disease.
