Japan has been the target of a couple major earthquakes this year, resulting in destroyed homes, a mutilated landscape and the loss of many innocent lives. Humanitarians and relief organizations immediately merged to provide relief for the unfortunate victims affected. Recently, a new form of support has emerged to assist Japanese relief efforts from an unusual industry –– music.
Musicians unite for disaster relief
There are a few prominent humanitarians involved in the music industry, such as Bono of U2, who habitually appears when disaster strikes. But this time, they are not alone. Thirty-eight of the world’s most successful pop artists each donated one of their top songs to an album entitled, “Songs For Japan.”
“Songs For Japan” was released on March 25 by Universal Music Group. The album features the world’s hottest artists from Queen to Katy Perry, and although the album highlights a top hit for each artist, it also contains an underlying theme of hope.
Album’s message of hope
The majority of the songs deal with the idea of hope. The lyrics of these songs encourage listeners to reach out and make the world a better place, like “Pray” by Justin Bieber. The chorus of “Pray” specifically calls people to pray for the millions of hurting people around the world. Other songs, such “Shelter from the Storm” by Bob Dylan, encourage listeners to further empathize with disaster victims by offering them shelter.
Some songs disrupt flow of album
Other songs, featured on the album, do not seem to fit. “Born This Way (Starsmith Remix)” by Lady Gaga may be a top hit, but it did not complement the album’s flow. The song is Gaga’s attempt to abuse her influence by convincing her audience that homosexuality is not a sin. Similarly, P!nk’s “Sober” also seems misplaced. In this song, P!nk sings about the disorientation caused by getting drunk and thus misconstruing life’s happiness. These two songs, among a few others, were obviously only added to the album for the sake of popularity and revenue.
Japanese Red Cross receives all proceeds
Universal has cleverly priced the 38 track album at $9.99, and all the proceeds will be donated to the Japanese Red Cross. On iTunes, listeners do not have the traditional option of buying just one song –– none of them are offered for exclusive sale. If an individual wants just one, he or she must buy the entire album. This concept was enterprising and very rewarding.
Theoretically, the Japanese Red Cross will gain $9.99 even if a customer purchases just one song. This is likely why Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” and P!nk’s “Sober” were added to the album –– although the songs do not have much correlation with the album’s theme or the devastation in Japan, they are very popular amongst music listeners globally.
Album’s popularity on iTunes
So far, their strategy has worked and the album is ranked third most demanded album on iTunes. But was it worth it? Are listeners really buying the album for the featured artists?
One song on iTunes averages about $1.29. To most listeners that is too much money for just one song, but “Songs For Japan” is a special album. It features 38 songs by various artist all for the low price of $9.99, which realistically is about 25 cents a song. To an unemployed high school student, this is the ultimate deal. It does not matter who is featured on it, 25 cents per song is too good of a deal to pass up. Plus, it is for a humanitarian cause.
“Songs For Japan” is a good album not only for the tunes, but also for the cause. Listeners should definitely not pass up this unique opportunity to expand their libraries and help those in need. Universal did an excellent job integrating the music industry with humanitarian relief. Hopefully, we will be seeing other music group follow their example.
