Popnography
Sam Smith, One Direction, Ellie Goulding & Others Record ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’
Some of the biggest names in music united as Band Aid 30 to fight Ebola.
November 17 2014 2:34 PM EST
February 05 2015 9:27 PM EST
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After bringing together some of the biggest acts of the day to form Band Aid 30 years ago, Bob Geldof once again convened a supergroup to record "Do They Know It's Christmas?" for charity.
Bono, One Direction, Rita Ora, Sam Smith, Emeli Sande, Sinead O'Connor, Ellie Goulding, Jessie Ware, Clean Bandit, and others have come together to record the charity anthem. Three decades ago, the song was made to help famine relief in Ethiopia. Today the tune's been resurrected to help stop the spread of Ebola in West Africa.
Money from purchases of the track will go to this end, but the results may not be as robust as they were 30 years ago. In 1984, the first recording of the song raised over PS8 million, but today, when music can be shared and streamed, it might be a challenge to get people to actually buy the song. To encourage this, "Do They Know It's Christmas?" won't be on Spotify until January. According to Geldof, the song has already raised over PS1 million. At the time of writing, it's the No. 2 song on iTunes."Do They Know It's Christmas?" is out now.
Warning: This video opens with some images that some may find disturbing.