It wasn't until Michael was on a four day tour in the Philippines sponsored by Ayala Malls, that he played a piece of the song for the first time, live at the Greenbelt venue. A video clip from that appearance gave us a little more about his future plans for this gift. He announced that all Philippines sales of the song (made available through Mossimo Music) would be given to Bantay Bata 163, a children's charity in the Philippines.
This was the first hint we had about how extensive his charitable donation of the song would be. On December 1, the day "Another Christmas" started getting radio play, I received an email at the IDF Aussie Posse MySpace, which listed what charities would benefit from the gift Michael had given. The names of those charities are listed below. The list made it quickly apparent; Michael wanted his gift to be meaningful and far reaching. This is a direct quote of the email I received.
In the U.S. it's going to ALS and Red Cross. In Manila it's going to Bantay Bata 163. In Australia the Starlight Foundation.
On December 9, the day the song was loaded for sale on Amazon and iTunes, and Michael announced the release of "Another Christmas" in his own MySpace blog.
In that entry he addressed releasing something so personal to the public: "I never intended to release a song i had written for my family, however it's for such a great cause. I know you will all help me in raising as much money and awareness as you can. Download Another Chritmas at Itunes or Amazon,"
Then in an interview done by Nancy O'Dell for Access Hollywood the same day, Michael confirmed all proceeds from the sale of "Another Christmas" here in the United States would be given to ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis or Lou Gehrig's disease) and The Red Cross. He chose to champion his friend Nancy's causes to honor her mother who was recently lost to the disease ALS.
Radio play of the song rapidly grew and the news of his gift spread over the internet. In addition to the links already listed, his story was featured in People, an Access Hollywood article (before the television appearance), and on AOL TV. Ryan Seacrest's radio show on kiisfm.com was listed as the place to make requests for the song.
Another DJ whose name is Ken founded The Sounds Of Christmas radio station in 2007, and he's been keeping all the fans filled in with the news about Michael's song through his blog. He just announced that out of 2300 songs requested, Michael's was #9 this week. Not bad for a brand new song that was in no way promoted except through news of his gift. My thanks to Ken for doing his part in promoting good cheer.
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