Bob Geldof claims 99p download price of Do They Know It’s Christmas? makes it difficult to have an impact

Bob Geldof has called on anyone who has downloaded Band Aid 30’s Do They Know It’s Christmas? to delete the song and purchase it again. Although the Ebola benefit single is already the fastest-selling single of 2014, Geldof claims that the song’s 99p price makes it difficult to have an impact.

In the past seven days, Band Aid 30’s supporters bought 312,000 copies of the celeb team-up: that’s 15,000 more than the first-week sales of Band Aid 20, and a higher first-week total of any single in almost two years. Still, Geldof’s new campaign is a long way off from matching the original Band Aid’s £8 million purse – not least because the latest Do They Know It’s Christmas? costs a fraction of 1984 edition’s £3.50 sticker price.

“We need to sell 300% more than we did than [in 1984] to even begin to make up the cash figure,” Geldof told BBC Radio 1. “That worries me … Even if you already have it, delete, download again.”

Geldof’s “delete and download” strategy is flawed. The average user of iTunes can purchase, delete and repurchase a track for no additional cost. You can, however, “Gift” an iTunes download, and re-donate by sending it to another user.

Nonetheless, organisers hope that the rate of fundraising will accelerate when the single is released on CD on 8 December. The physical edition will sell for £3.99 and, as for the 99p digital version, the government has reportedly waived its collection of VAT.

Despite Band Aid 30’s good intentions, many observers – and even some of the invited participants – have criticised its execution. African-born musician Fuse ODG backed out of the project due its lyrics’ “negative portrayal” of Africa. Emeli Sandé, who sings on the track, also argued that the “lyric[s] needed changing”. “Angélique Kidjo and I made and sang our own edits,” she recalled on Twitter. “Unfortunately none of these made the final cut.”

In response, Geldof told Newsbeat that he encouraged Fuse ODG to change any line he felt he couldn’t sing. “Angélique Kidjo and Emeli Sandé who were on the same attitude [as Fuse ODG] and I said, ‘There’s the world’s press, tell them about your point of view.’”

Source: The Guardian