Music labels play the charity card - but it's the thought that counts

Music labels will try anything now to sell more CDs, including playing the charity card. The four not-so-major labels - EMI, Sony, Warner and Universal Music - jointly hosted a press conference yesterday at Kowloon Bay's Hitec to push a new stimulus package for the industry called 'Love Music, Love Charity'.

More than a dozen Canto-pop artists - including Alan Tam Wing-lun, Khalil Fong Da-tong and Fiona Sit Hoi-kei - gathered to unfurl the campaign. Each company has selected 25 top titles and HK$5 from each CD sold in March will be donated to the Children's Cancer Foundation.

'It's not easy for four different record labels to work on one project,' singer Hins Cheung King-hin (right) said.

'They've planned this for quite a long time and I appreciate their efforts trying to do good for society ... I don't mind earning a little less copyright fee to help out children with cancer.'

Well, maybe the labels aren't that thorough or that altruistic. Some of the designated recordings aren't coming out until later this month - for example, Jolin Tsai Yi-lin's disc is only being released on March 27, while the campaign ends on March 31. And instead of automatically funnelling the money to charity, the buying public will have to clip a sticker and mail it back to the Hong Kong Recording Industry Alliance's office for the money to be donated. Oh well. It's the gesture that counts, as Cheung said.

'Helping people makes me feel good. I'm sponsoring a three-year-old boy who's living in Nepal, starting this year. With a monthly donation of HK$200, the boy can go to school, eat better and live healthier.' Check your local record store for the selected CDs with the sticker.