(RED) & Music Discovery

GAP & Bono have recently shed light on (RED). By taking portions of profits from everything from ipods to t-shirts, (RED) gives to causes related to AIDS in Africa. Now (RED) is getting into music discovery. For $5 a month, (RED) will send you one song by an established artist (such as U2), another song by an up and coming artist, and then a third ‘cracker jack’ song. $2.50 will go to the artists and the other $2.50 will go to the AIDS-in-Africa cause.

The really interesting part of this initiative is that a gentleman named Don MacKinnon will be leading this project. He is the President of Content for (RED). His previous role was with Starbucks. I have written a lot about how Starbucks lost its music discovery edge by carrying safe artists. Perhaps Mr. MacKinnon will be able to revive music discovery with this (RED) initiative.

In Mr. MacKinnon’s own words – “The idea, then as now, is music discovery.” “People want someone to send them music from artists they love as well as acts that are emerging.” I agree with this wholeheartedly. Most radio stations rotate 5 songs and in the internet age where everything is available, it’s hard to know where to start. This option allows you to feel good by giving to a cause while also possibly discovering new music that you may like.

This information came from a great article in today’s NY Times.

Stay tuned,
Erik
erikrostad.com