Is that really all that much?

Reuters: Live 8 yields $12 million windfall---

LONDON (Billboard) - The Live 8 series of 10 free concerts this past July were not meant to be fund-raisers, but they have generated a surplus of more than $12 million, Billboard has learned. The money will be put toward relief projects in Africa.

Organizers say total costs for the shows were in the region of 10 million pounds. Revenue from sponsors, TV and DVD rights, mobile phone texting and other such ancillary sources as merchandising and photo rights not only helped offset the production costs, but delivered extra income.
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The key sources of revenue were EMI Music, which paid an advance of $6 million for the DVD rights to the shows, and the two main sponsors, AOL and Nokia, which each provided about $5 million.

Worldwide TV sales of the shows brought in more than $2 million: The BBC paid 1 million pounds. Overseas DVD rights brought in an additional 1.4 million euros.

Compared to how much Americans donated after Hurricane Katrina, $12 million dollars isn't all that much for an event that was supposed to be huge. Apparently people went for the music, not to donate.

According to Kennedy, the main difference between Band Aid and Live 8 was that the former was meant to raise funds to address the famine in Ethiopia, while the latter was set up to raise awareness about debt relief in Africa.

"Our intention was to cover our costs. We're not shy of any surplus, but it was not the aim," Kennedy says. "After 20 years, Band Aid is still active, and we are still funding projects -- this will simply help us fund even more projects."

So, the point of Live 8 was simply to pressure governments to forgive debts in AFrica?

I have a credit card that needs paying off. Perhaps the federal government should forgive that too. Of course, I did buy things with it---but they were things I needed.

If the Live 8 people cared about substance, rather than looking like they were doing good, they would work on raising money to help people in Africa. The celebrity singers who performed at all those concerts certainly could have made a good dent into debts by donating a lot of money. Quit spending it on big Escalades and mansions and trips around the world.

What a scam.