In Great Britain, the DSDS equivalent "The X Factor has managed to regularly push its winners to number one in the charts the week before Christmas in recent years. To break this streak of success by the casted pretty faces, Rage Against The Machine founded a group on the social media platform Facebook with the sole aim of encouraging fans to download the song "Killing in the Name" during the pre-Christmas week, thereby competing with this year's winner Joe McElderry. What seemed nearly impossible due to the market power of the television network was nonetheless made possible by the internet. With half a million downloads, the entirely un-Christian title reached number one in the UK charts, with a lead of 50,000 votes over the superstar, after which no one will care in a year.
£65,000, or about €72,000 from the download sales, will be donated by RATM to the homeless charity Shelter. Additionally, a free concert is planned for 2010 to celebrate this success with British fans.
Source: http://www.rollingstone.de/news/article.php?article_file=1261388347.txt
Also noteworthy is this video of a performance by RATM at BBC Radio prior to the campaign, which was cut short due to the word "Fuck" in the lyrics of the performed piece: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lx19x9xPB8o
And here is the uncensored version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUPYIShaX1s
£65,000, or about €72,000 from the download sales, will be donated by RATM to the homeless charity Shelter. Additionally, a free concert is planned for 2010 to celebrate this success with British fans.
Source: http://www.rollingstone.de/news/article.php?article_file=1261388347.txt
Also noteworthy is this video of a performance by RATM at BBC Radio prior to the campaign, which was cut short due to the word "Fuck" in the lyrics of the performed piece: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lx19x9xPB8o
And here is the uncensored version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUPYIShaX1s
