SoftAid is a software compilation, released by Quicksilva in March 1985 to support the Famine Relief in Ethiopia . The software was released on cassette for the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64 home computers. Versions were also planned for the Amstrad CPC and BBC Micro but Rod Cousens, Quicksilva's managing director, was unable to secure enough games from publishers.
7-503: An audio recording of the charity single , " Do They Know It's Christmas? " by Band Aid is also featured on one side of the tape. The tape was unusual in that it was the first time software houses had co-operated to produce a product to support a charity. The tape was sold in the United Kingdom for £4.99. SoftAid topped the UK software sales charts for seventeen weeks in 1985 , setting
14-522: A record for the longest number of consecutive weeks at number one. The record was eventually broken by RoboCop in 1989. The compilation raised over £360,000 for the Band Aid Trust and in 1986 CRASH magazine reported that it was probably the highest selling software release ever. SoftAid was followed in 1986 by another ten game compilation, Off The Hook , which was also organised by Rod Cousens who had then moved to Electric Dreams Software . It
21-433: Is a recording with most or all proceeds raised going to a dedicated foundation or charity. In 1956, The Lord's Taveners released a 78 rpm disc which contained six tracks donated by popular artists at the time. The record was released by The Decca Record Company and the entire profits of the record together with the royalties and fees from artists, publishers, etc., were donated to The National Playing Fields Association . This
28-624: The Bee Gees ' " Too Much Heaven " released as singles, all the royalties from which went to UNICEF. Band Aid 's " Do They Know It's Christmas? " in November 1984 began the revolution of the charity record, which would be popularised throughout the 1980s. In the United States , charity records reached their peak with USA for Africa 's " We Are the World " in 1985, but then essentially died out afterwards. In
35-458: Was donated to UNICEF , as were takings from Harrison's Concert for Bangladesh (again, the first of its kind) held at Madison Square Garden , New York, and its spin-off live album and concert film. This is one way of using artistic talent as art for charity . Some of the other early charity records came from the January 1979 Music for UNICEF Concert , with the likes of ABBA 's " Chiquitita " and
42-754: Was released to support the Prince's Trust work on drug abuse rehabilitation with versions available for the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum. In 1987, Cousens worked with Gremlin Graphics to produce the Kidsplay compilation. Released for the Amstrad CPC as well as the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum, the ten game compilation raised money for the NSPCC and RSSPCC . Charity single A charity record , charity album , or charity single
49-472: Was the first charity record to make the UK charts and reached Number 2. Due to its success, it was followed by a second compilation in 1957. George Harrison 's " Bangla Desh " single in 1971 is commonly regarded as the first successful international charity single; it was recorded to help fund relief efforts following the 1970 Bhola cyclone and the Bangladesh Liberation War . The money raised
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