Apple Hosts Sudan Charity Music on iTunes for Free
Apple Hosts Sudan Charity Music on iTunes for Free
by , 3:30 PM EST, December 2nd, 2004
Apple has entered the world of charity with a new project from a record label called Modiba Records. The label's first CD is called The Afrobeat Sudan Aid Project (ASAP), with all proceeds from the album going to a charity that helps victims of ethnic cleansing in Darfur, Sudan. BusinessWeek reports that Apple agreed to host and sell the music through the iTunes Music Store (iTMS) free of charge, the first such charity endeavor for the iTMS.
From the article:
Q: Starting a record company is a huge endeavor in itself. Why choose to do your first album based on the music and culture of a foreign country?
A: We have been studying African-related topics at school and studied abroad there, and the ethnic violence has reached such a level in Sudan that some are calling it ethnic genocide. I studied culture and social and economic development in Sudan, and Eric Herman, my partner and co-founder, studied music and culture in Mali.Both of us knew we wanted to do something related to Africa, and we had both been into African music for a while. So when we came back, we said we should really use the richness of African music to serve as a development tool.
We started formulating ideas for companies in the vein of social entrepreneurship to find ways for Africa to use its vast and rich cultural resources as a tool for development and social-economic improvement. We learned a lot when we spent the summer in Brooklyn working for Afropop Worldwide, a not-for-profit multimedia organization that's dedicated to bringing African music to the world. And then towards the end of the summer, more and more press came out about the situation in Darfur, and we decided to do it.
ASAP is currently #81 in the iTMS's Today's Top 100, and BusinessWeek reports that it has broken the Top 30 in the past. You can find ASAP at the US iTMS, where it is priced at US$9.99. You can find the full article on the project at BusinessWeek.
Observer Comments
Thu Dec 02, 2004 5:46 pm Subject: Ethic cleansing!
I say it's about time for ethic cleansing. Recent scandals show that our ethics need some cleansing!
Oh, or did you mean ethnic cleansing? In that case--and forgive me for sounding insensitive--but if you're a victim of ethnic cleansing, doesn't that mean you're dead, and therefore pretty much beyond assistance? Not even iTunes can help out with that. Perhaps the charity can prevent more people from become victims, however.
Even so, I hope that Apple thoroughly checked out this charity. Nearly as tragic as situations should as ethnic cleansing is the fact that there are those out there that attempt to take advantage of our kind hearts by setting up bogus charities that in fact funnel money to terrorist organizations. In all likelihood, this charity is completely legitimate, but given that Sudan is on the list of known terrorist sponsors, this charity should be given additional scrutiny to ensure that the money is indeed being used to help those in need.
Happy holidays to all!
It was indeed a typo, Jimothy, and the article has been corrected to to say ethnic cleansing.
Not all victims of ethnic cleansing die, BTW, as refugees are created by the violence. Indeed, getting people to want to leave an area is often part of the purpose of engaging in the death and mayhem. And, of course, there are always people who escape violence aimed at them.
There was a great article on the situation in Darfur a few months ago in The New Yorker, if you are interested.
As for Apple, I can only imagine that the charity was thoroughly vetted.
Bryan
Editor
TMO
Jesse Brenner here from Modiba, the producers of "ASAP: The Afrobeat Sudan Aid Project." If you are interested in finding more about the "ASAP" charity -- the Oxfam-affiliated Kebkabiya Smallholders Charitable Society, locally based in Darfur -- please direct your browsers here:
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/what_we_do/where_we_work/sudan/emergency/partners.htm
Thanks for your interest and support!
-Jesse F. Brenner
President, Modiba Productions
jesse@modiba.net
Comments are currently closed. Please email the author instead.
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