AFP Photo / Paul J. Richards
Musicians band together for Obama
Published 23 September, 2008, 14:43
Edited 22 September, 2009, 07:15
Barack Obama's campaign will soon have its own soundtrack. With contributions from Kanye West, John Legend, Sheryl Crow, Stevie Wonder , the official campaign soundtrack is ready to hit the market.
The album “Yes We Can: Voices of a Grassroots Movement” with the title that comes from Obama campaign slogan, will be available for sale starting Friday. The CD will be released in conjunction with Hidden Beach Recordings that is currently negotiating rights with the artists.
Proceeds from the sales of CDs priced 30 dollars each, will support Obama's campaign until Election Day on November 4.
“We had conversations [with the people within the Obama campaign] quite some time ago about how to harness what was happening really organically and naturally with so many artists,” he said. “The whole concept [was] how do we translate that to inspire and invigorate and also give people a keepsake that they can own while at the same time providing some important capital needed for this campaign,” Steve McKeever, CEO and founder of Hidden Beach, told Associated Press.
Steve McKeever is an Obama supporter himself as well as many American celebrities. Jay Jay French of Twisted Sister, Dave Stewart, Whoopi Goldberg, Barry Manilow have all appeared in Obama-inspired projects before.
Earlier this year, viewers could see Scarlet Johansson, Kate Walsh, Common , Black Eyed Peas and other artists in a delightful all-stars video “Yes We Can,” that has become a YouTube sensation. About 10 million people have watched it since it was posted there. To view the video follow the link.
While many songs in the album have been heard before – such as famous Stevie Wonder's “Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours”, some tunes are brand new. These include “Pride in the Name of Love” by Legend's and “Promised Land,” a song by Malik Yusef featuring Kanye West and Adam Levine of Maroon 5.
Although the Obama campaign purchased the rights to the CD, McNeever said that the music is not particularly geared towards Democrats.
“I don't think that there's anything on it that's a real partisan message,” he said. “The messages I think are quite universal.”
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