04-15-2004, 08:33 PM
Saw this on the Canoe website; i think it would be a neat idea, one way for the fans to get ahold of the record and for a worthy cause! Hmm, say to the Canadian Wilderness Fund or something along those lines?
THE RECORD industry may paint music downloaders as unrepentant thieves, but it seems some fans are motivated more by hearing something quickly than by getting it for free. After the Chicago band Wilco's new album, A Ghost Is Born -- scheduled for release June 22 peared on Internet file-sharing sites last month, the group and one of its fans decided to test that theory.
On April 2 Wilco and Ronen Givony launched justafan.org, a Web site where people who have downloaded the album can ease their conscience by making a donation to the charitable organization Doctors Without Borders.
In Givony's words, the donations represent "a symbolic downpayment and show of thanks" to the band, which streamed its last album, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, online months before release, and was nevertheless rewarded with the highest chart position of its career.
To date, fans have donated more than $6,000 US to the charity.
THE RECORD industry may paint music downloaders as unrepentant thieves, but it seems some fans are motivated more by hearing something quickly than by getting it for free. After the Chicago band Wilco's new album, A Ghost Is Born -- scheduled for release June 22 peared on Internet file-sharing sites last month, the group and one of its fans decided to test that theory.
On April 2 Wilco and Ronen Givony launched justafan.org, a Web site where people who have downloaded the album can ease their conscience by making a donation to the charitable organization Doctors Without Borders.
In Givony's words, the donations represent "a symbolic downpayment and show of thanks" to the band, which streamed its last album, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, online months before release, and was nevertheless rewarded with the highest chart position of its career.
To date, fans have donated more than $6,000 US to the charity.