No Holiday Cheer for Band Aid and iTunes

November 24th, 2004 at 2:00 PM - News by Misha Sakellaropoulo

Appleis iTunes Music Store is causing a bit of a stir by refusing to sell the charity Band Aid song "Do They Know Itis Christmas?". At issue is the songis £1.49 price, which is almost double the 79p Apple charges for all singles on its U.K. store.

Despite the songis good intentions, Apple is adamant about never charging more than 79p for a single song, The Times reports. Other online music stores are carrying the song, however, which is expected to raise about £10 million for relief efforts in Africa.

Universal Music, the record company behind the single, is reportedly interested in coming to terms with Apple but says it canit sell the tune for less £1.49 because it needs to maximize the amount of money raised from each sale.

Other stores selling this yearis rendition of "Do They Know Itis Christmas?" include MyCoke Music, Tiscali, NTL, Wanadoo, Virgin Mega-store, MSN, Virgin.net, MTV, HMV, and Napster, as well as the songis official site.

Band Aid 20is line-up includes Chris Martin from Coldplay, U2is Bono, Dido, Dizzee Rascal, and Robbie Williams, among a number of other artists. The BBC has more details on the track, which made its world premier nine days ago on the radio. BBC Three is also showing a documentary on the history of Band Aid this evening.