Apple is asking visitors to its U.K. site to consider making a donation to help those affected by the Grenfell Tower tragedy in London by purchasing the iTunes single "Bridge Over Troubled Water", which went straight to the top of the U.K. charts just two hours after it was released on Wednesday.
Artists for Grenfell represents more than 50 musicians including Craig David, Liam Payne, and Stormzy, who recorded the cover of the Simon & Garfunkel classic to support victims' families and survivors of the fire. Residents and survivors of the London tower block also feature as part of a choir led by Gareth Malone.
Download this moving cover of the Simon & Garkunkel classic (featuring Stormzy, Rita Ora, Liam Payne, Jorja Smith and many more) to support those affected by the Grenfell Tower tragedy. And if you’d like to donate further to the Artists for Grenfell and London Community Foundation appeal, please visit http://smarturl.it/AFGDonate.
At least £0.76 for each download of the song featured on this page will go to The London Community Foundation (a charity registered in England No. 1091263).
Combustible cladding is believed to have been responsible for the rapid spread of the fire at Grenfell Tower last week, which left at least 79 people dead or missing. The government has been heavily criticized for its response in the immediate aftermath, and has pledged to house the Grenfell Tower fire survivors as quickly as possible.
The charity track achieved 120,000 downloads and streaming equivalent sales on Wednesday, which is the biggest opening day figure for a U.K. single this decade. You can download "Bridge Over Troubled Water" on iTunes here. The track is also available to stream on Apple Music.
Top Rated Comments
Apple needs to STOP asking customers to make donations that it often takes ownership of in its company reports.
If Apple is so concerned about this particular issue then Apple needs to move millions or billions of its stockpile of dollars into this and other charities on its own accord.
Apple has enough money to help out these kinds of situations so it shouldn't be suggesting or inviting customers make those contributions.
Open the wallet Apple and help make a change in the world.
Instead of getting upset, why don't YOU make a donation?
Apple shouldn't be making profits from charitable contributions.
It would actually be nice to see Apple make their own donation in the first instance. Apple haven't yet made any donation, customers have made donations, not Apple.
Please note the description on iTunes, which states:
"This includes 100% of Apple's share"
[1]
Which I think should end any talk of "profiteering". I invite the posters who claimed as much to retract their slurs upon Apple.
[1] UK iTunes page screenshot, 23 June 2017, 19:10 BST
Please present your evidence that Apple is "profiteering" to the tune of ~5 pence maximum. I would agree that even if they are taking a profit of 1 pence from this track that would be disgraceful, but I find it unlikely.
In this case, Apple guarantees that ALL its profits will go to the cause. The amount varies from country to country and even state to state depending on tax laws, exchange fees and processing fees. So "at least 76p" is as good of an estimate as they can do. I would be very surprised if Apple makes a penny of this deal, and they'll most likely round up the payments to the charity.