Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign To Save Darfur - Release

Release

The rights to Lennon's songs and music publishing royalties were donated to Amnesty International by Yoko Ono. Amnesty International utilized the songs to start the "Make Some Noise" project, which later led to the subsidiary campaign "Instant Karma." Eventually, enough momentum was achieved through the project to amount to an album.

This album will be used to harness the power of Lennon's music to inspire a new generation of activists to stand up for human rights.

"It's wonderful that, through this campaign, music that is so familiar to many people of my era will now be embraced by a whole new generation," Ono says. "John's music set out to inspire change, and in standing up for human rights, and selling more records, we really can make the world a better place."

Larry Cox, executive director of Amnesty International U.S.A., added, "We know music's power to unite and inspire people. With hundreds of thousands dead, millions driven from their burned out villages and rape being used as a tactic in the Darfur conflict, the world needs a mass mobilization demanding action and justice. The "Instant Karma" campaign combines John Lennon's passionate desire for us to imagine a more peaceful world with Amnesty International's expertise in achieving justice. "Instant Karma" allows ordinary people to lend their hand in saving lives—a notion we think would make John proud."

"John Lennon was not just a famous Beatle, he was the social conscience of his generation," says Jeff Ayeroff, one of the album's executive producers. "By reinterpreting his music and reintroducing it to a new generation, we shine a light on the darkness that is Darfur. Yoko Ono's gift of John's music to Amnesty International, whose work points out the pain and injustice in the world, is a true beacon of light. Give peace a chance is all we are saying."

Proceeds from CD and digital sales will support Amnesty International and its campaign to focus attention and mobilize activism around the urgent catastrophe in Darfur, and other human rights crises. It was released in the U.S. on June 12 and the U.K. on June 25, 2007.

The digital version of the album made it to #1 on iTunes in Portugal, Ireland, Greece, Denmark and Luxembourg. The physical album made it to #1 in Ireland and Mexico. As of July 13, 2007 it had certified Gold Status in Italy and Ireland. As of July 11, 2007, the album has sold 107,689 copies in the US.