The new “Band Aid 20” charity single is being prepared for release as a download from British online music services at midnight tomorrow (Nov. 17).
The download of “Do They Know It’s Christmas” will be priced at £1.49 ($2.75). It will be available at the official Band Aid Web site and as-yet-unannounced online music services. Alternatively, customers can purchase a download of the original chart-topping 1984 single bundled with the new version for £1.99 ($3.67).
“Everyone involved has pledged their margins to charity, and we all hope to make this the best-selling download ever,” says Ben Drury, managing director of media firm 7 Digital. The London-based company has been responsible for building the Web site, handling the online payment facility and delivering digital rights management for the download, says Drury.
A sticking point remains Apple Computer’s iTunes Music Store. The market leader sells individual downloads at a standard rate of £0.79 ($1.45), a price that would undercut the charity download’s effectiveness at other channels. An Apple spokesman could not be reached for comment.
The song received its first spins today at U.K. radio, airing on BBC Radio 1 as part of the Chris Moyles breakfast show. The Mercury single will be released to U.K. retail outlets Nov. 29; plans for an international release have yet to be revealed.
The all-star single was recorded Sunday (Nov. 14) at Air Studios in London, with Nigel Godrich producing and Midge Ure as executive producer. U2’s Bono, rock act the Darkness and U.K. chart-topping siblings Natasha and Daniel Bedingfield are among the artists who participated.
Band Aid 20 was organized to raise funds for the Band Aid Trust’s famine relief in Africa, specifically in the Darfur region of Sudan.
