Live 8 yields US$12 million windfall

LONDON - 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 US$12 million, Billboard has learned. The money will be put toward relief projects in Africa.

Organisers 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.

So says John Kennedy, one of the three trustees of Band Aid Trust, the nonprofit charity set up 20 years ago in the wake of the Band Aid project. The other two trustees are musician/activist Bob Geldof and concert promoter Harvey Goldsmith.

The key sources of revenue were EMI Music, which paid an advance of US$6 million for the DVD rights to the shows, and the two main sponsors, AOL and Nokia, which each provided about US$5 million.

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

Goods still selling

Merchandising sales exceeded 1 million pounds and continue generating income; Live 8-related products are still available on the organisation's website. Corporate hospitality at London's Hyde Park concert brought in more than 500,000 pounds. Book rights were sold for US$420,000 and photo rights for US$340,000.

The trust also received proceeds from the mobile phone texting the public used to apply for tickets and voice their support for the "Make Poverty History" campaign. Kennedy says more than 2.6 million pounds was raised through texting. From these funds, 1.6 million pounds compensated the Prince's Trust, which was to use Hyde Park for its annual fund-raiser, but instead left the space to Geldof's initiative.

Live 8 was organised through the Band Aid Trust and its two wholly owned affiliates, Live 8 Ltd. and Woodcharm Ltd. Kennedy is chairman/CEO of industry trade body the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry and was an entertainment lawyer 20 years ago. He worked with Geldof on Band Aid and has been a trustee of the charity since its inception.

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."

- REUTERS