Band Aid pioneer Sir Bob Geldof has hit out at internet bootleggers who are downloading the new version of Do They Know It's Christmas? without paying a penny to charity.
Thousands of people across Britain and the United States have already copied the new single ahead of its official release on November 29. The Mail on Sunday said it counted 583 people downloading the track in less than an hour from just one internet site. They said the track was available to download in mp3 format within minutes of its airing on the radio and by yesterday there were 29 separate mp3 files to copy. Each had been downloaded many hundreds of times.
A furious Geldof said: "They should stop. They are taking food out of somebody's mouth or taking the hyperdermic out of somebody's arm."
Do They Know It's Christmas? is being released to mark the 20th anniversary of the original recording, which raised more than £100m for starving people in Ethiopia. The new version, recorded by Sir Bob and Midge Ure in response to the current humanitarian crisis in Sudan, features 40 current popstars - Coldplay's Chris Martin, Robbie Williams, Sugarbabes, Dido, The Darkness, Will Young, Ms Dynamite, Joss Stone, Bono and Busted have all taken part in the recording.
Band Aid 20's record label, Universal Music, is trying to make up for some of the illegal downloading by offering the single and video on its own website bandaid20.com for just £1.99. Oxfam said people could download the track from its website bignoisemusic.com in exchange for an donation.
Source: Sky News
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