Friday, December 21, 2007

Darfur Charity Auction Launches

Waxploitation's 'Causes 1: Darfur' Album Debuts #32 on iTunes

Waxploitation announced two items of good news today relating to its work benefiting Darfur.

The label's Causes 1 Darfur benefit album far exceeded first week expectations, debuting at #32 on the iTunes album chart and virtually selling out it's first CD pressing in pre-orders alone. "This level of attention is not something we were expecting, given how grassroots our marketing efforts have been. But it shows the strength of the fans and artists who participated and the enormous desire to help in Darfur." says Waxploitation founder Jeff Antebi. "It's quite telling that on iTunes people have chosen to buy the album, instead of cherry picking individual songs. That says people are aware of how important the donation is."

In addition, Waxploitation announced today it will launch its upcoming Darfur Benefit Auction on Thursday, December 6. The auction will be live on http://www.ebay.com/causesauction.

One hundred percent of the proceeds will be split between three non-profit organizations working in Darfur: Doctors Without Borders, Human Rights Watch and Oxfam America.

This year's items have been donated by a 'who's who' of artists, including signed guitars from The Flaming Lips, Avril Lavigne, Norah Jones, Nickelback, Deftones and Common, as well as items signed by Coldplay, Kanye West, Gorillaz, Gnarls Barkley, Wilco, TV on the Radio, The Decemberists, Bloc Party, Aesop Rock, Macy Gray, Thievery Corporation, Julius 'DR J' Erving and Bam Margera, to name a few. The auction also features unsigned items from Bob Marley, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Brian Wilson, Lupe Fiasco, Robbie Williams, Don Cheadle, MTV, Sony Playstation, Xbox, Zoo York, Adidas, T-Mobile, Nokia, Nintendo, Adult Swim among others.

This will be Waxploitation's 4th Darfur Benefit Auction since 2004.

Causes 1 features exclusive and rare tracks donated by Animal Collective, The Black Keys, Bloc Party, Bright Eyes, Cornelius, The Cure, David Sylvian, Death Cab for Cutie, The (International) Noise Conspiracy, The Shins remixed by Clint Mansell, Spoon, Teargas & Plateglass, Thievery Corporation and Travis. It documents some of today's most compelling and unique music, all to benefit crucial humanitarian work in a region of the world needing urgent attention.

To see promo video, which includes The Shins remixed by Clint Mansell, please check out http://youtube.com/watch?v=9RcZtO4TfAQ

For more information on how to get the album, please check out www.waxploitation.com/ordercauses

Estimates of the number of people killed in the Darfur conflict vary widely, from 200,000 to 400,000. What is certain is that more than two million people have fled their homes because of the fighting, and four million are now in need of humanitarian assistance--making this one of the most painful crises in the world today.

Please see the following URLS for more information:

http://www.waxploitation.com/ordercauses
http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org
http://www.hrw.org
http://www.oxfamamerica.org

No comments: