Pop Charity Titans Team Up for NetAid

Jimmy Thudpucker is backing NetAid, an ambitious effort involving three Oct. 9 concerts and a huge Internet drive to raise awareness and action for the United Nations’ campaign to fight extreme poverty.

A recent story line in Garry Trudeau’s comic strip “Doonesbury” had the fictitious, over-the-hill singer-songwriter, now based in Vietnam, recording a new song for the venture. Later, word leaked out that Bono and Wyclef Jean were working on a song together for the same cause.

Still, just two months away, little awareness of the plans has penetrated music business consciousness, let alone the public.

“You mean it’s real?” says one veteran music executive, who recalled the “Doonesbury” mention but thought it was something Trudeau had made up.

Indeed, it is real. The team behind the effort includes such figures as Harry Belafonte, artist manager Ken Kragen, television and special events producer Don Mischer and radio consultant Jeff Pollack--people whose collective credits include Live Aid and Hands Across America, two of the events that defined pop charity involvement for the past 14 years.

They’re putting together three simultaneous concerts on a Live Aid scale--in New Jersey’s Giants Stadium, London’s Wembley Stadium and a smaller site in Geneva. So far they’ve kept a pretty tight lid on the lineups and other details, but Pop Eye has learned that Bono (possibly with other U2 members), George Michael, Bush, the Corrs, hot English rock act Stereophonics and U.K./European superstar Robbie Williams are expected to be part of the Wembley show, which will be produced by Harvey Goldsmith, who also did the Wembley Live Aid show. Wyclef Jean, Jewel and Counting Crows are likely for the U.S. event, with Celine Dion, Eurythmics, Beastie Boys and No Doubt among others that have been approached.

The campaign will officially kick off Sept. 8 when the video for the Wyclef-Bono song, titled “New Day,” will be premiered at the U.N. and the single will be released by Columbia Records.

What makes this different from Live Aid and Hands Across America is that the primary goal is not to drive you to your phone to make a monetary contribution. That’s indeed part of it, organizers have explained--but, more important, they hope to drive you to your computer to join a global network of ongoing awareness and participation in the cause. To that end, Silicon Valley company Cisco Systems is partnering with the United Nations Development Programme to create an Internet system that, they say, will be able to accommodate an unprecedented number of people tuning in to the Webcasts of performances and backstage features, with the idea that they will use the Internet to investigate the issue further.

“These events are very difficult to make money out of,” says Gary Bongiovanni, editor in chief of Pollstar, “but it sounds like that’s not their main goal.”

ARTIST RIGHTS: The Artist (formerly known as Prince), who likened major record label policies over master-recordings ownership to slavery when he left Warner Bros. Records and set out independently, is apparently returning to the citadels of the music business. The Minneapolis musician is working out a deal to release his next album on a major label, with Arista Records said to be the leading candidate.

He’s not giving up his independence, says his attorney L. Londell McMillan, but rather looking for ways to strengthen it. Where the music business standard is for acts to sign multi-album deals with labels, this deal will be for one album only, and will be a straightforward licensing arrangement for manufacturing, distribution and promotions from the company, while the Artist will be free to negotiate with other companies for future releases, and will also continue to release music through his own NPG label.

McMillan likened the arrangement to that of a major film star.

“If Sylvester Stallone wants to make a small, indie film, he’s free to do that, and if he wants to make a major studio blockbuster, he can do that too, without having to sign for several films,” McMillan says.

Since leaving Warner Bros. in 1994, the Artist had one other major-label release, with his best (and best-selling) post-Warners album “Emancipation” going through EMI in 1996, but that company folded the next year.

Meanwhile, he’s not completely done with Warner Bros., having consented to the release of an album made from unused material recorded during his time at the company, and still, therefore, in its ownership. “The Vault . . . Old Friends 4 Sale,” is due Aug. 24--though Prince won’t be involved in its promotion.

READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL?: Tim Sommer knows the power of music/sports synergy. As the artists and repertoire executive who signed Hootie & the Blowfish and guided their career at Atlantic Records, he saw the band’s tie-ins with ESPN and other sports entities--involving its collective love for golf and other sports--help boost sales of the “Cracked Rear View” album to more than 15 million.

Now at MCA Records, he’s happy to give it another go with the New Orleans band Cowboy Mouth, whose upcoming album he produced. To that end, the group last week did 31 customized versions of the song “Somebody’s Gonna Get Their Head Kicked In Tonight,” each featuring a reference to one National Football League team. The song was originally a 1968 Fleetwood Mac B-side, written by member Jeremy Spencer as a tribute/parody of Elvis Presley-Eddie Cochran ‘50s rock ‘n’ roll, and was later punked up by ‘80s Scottish band the Rezillos. The custom recordings are being sent to the teams by music/sports marketer Ellen Zoe Golden, who has been working with the NFL to maximize ties between the pop and football worlds.

“It wasn’t why we recorded the song,” says Sommer, noting the ubiquitousness of rock and hip-hop songs at sports events. “But once we did, it seemed like a real natural for a sports arena song. And just for fun, we also did versions for four top English soccer teams.”