Music that rocked the world

 

IT WAS the biggest concert in history, designed to highlight the plight of the world's poorest nations and pressure Western leaders into wiping out their debts. And it worked. According to Live8 organisers, the G8 leaders have agreed to hand $25bn in aid to Africa every year.

But three weeks on from Live8, the other beneficiaries of the concert - watched by three billion music fans across the globe - are starting to emerge: the musicians who took part, their record companies and the retailers.
To put the kind of publicity that Live8 generated into perspective, for a band to attract a live audience of three billion, they would have to play a concert at London's Hammersmith Apollo every night for 2,200 years, or play 8,200,000 gigs at Newcastle City Hall.
After the concert, High Street and online retailers quickly cleared space to make room for Live8 promotions. Suddenly there was renewed interest in forgotten bands such as Pink Floyd to cater for – and fans queuing up to buy albums from the back catalogues of Robbie Williams, the Beatles and Madonna.

In the first Official Singles Chart after the concert, evidence of the Live8 effect was beginning to emerge. The highest new entry was Mariah Carey's We Belong Together, which entered at number two. The track was kept off the number one spot by Ghetto Gospel, a song that features the vocals of Elton John, another Live8 performer.
Others who performed at the concert on Saturday 2 July, and who saw their singles immediately enter or re-enter the top 40, included teenage soul diva Joss Stone with Don't Cha Wanna Ride , Razorlight, U2 and Snoop Dogg. However, it was in the album charts that the Live8 effect was most apparent.
Pink Floyd, who came out of retirement for the event, saw their four-year-old double compilation album, Echoes , enter at number 19. Coldplay album X&Y was at number two, the Kaiser Chiefs climbed to number four and Keane's year-old album Hopes and Fears re-entered the charts at number five.
Razorlight's Up All Night climbed 19 places to number nine, Mind Body and Soul , by Joss Stone was up 23 places to number 16, and Hot Fuss by the Killers rose 11 places to number 11, while In Time , the best of REM, moved up 15 places to number 18.

In the Official UK Download Chart, a version of Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band performed at Live8 by Paul McCartney & U2 became the fastest selling online single on record. With around 20,000 downloads at 79p each it leapt into the chart at number one – with profits donated to the ongoing Live8 charity project. Other tracks by Paul McCartney and Pink Floyd also entered the download chart, which has generally been the preserve of younger artists.
The following week's charts also reflected the Live8 effect with Elton John's Electricity going straight into the singles top 40 at number four. Around half of the top 20 albums were performed by artists who had appeared at Live8. 'It was like the opposite of when sh*t happens,' said an insider at the record company behind Robbie Williams, EMI.
So, where is the best place to buy all this music?
This is Money's Money Savers team has trawled the internet to see which of the online CD stores offers the best and worst deals for some of the Live8 artists. We've taken 11 artists and picked an album at random from the range of those advertised - on most sites – under a Live8 banner.
The results reveal, once again, the importance of shopping around – and more so, the importance of understanding the complex delivery charges each site imposes on its customers.