Will Butler spoke to the Wall Street Journal about Arcade fire’s humanitarian work and its involvement with Partners in Health in Haiti, which caused the journalist ask if the band was this generation’s Bono… ‘Isn’t Bono this generation’s Bono?’ answered Will.
Well, Bono is kind of old in terms of music business, he is 50, Will is 28 and Win 30, so the question was legitimate as they are not from the same generation. And they practice the same kind of charity business. The same kind? er… this is is what Will said in another interview for the A.V. Club, when asked about the $1 ticket surcharge for their shows:
‘That was an idea our manager came up with when we were brainstorming on ideas to help Haiti. It was just so easy, and it raises so much money that it’s a crime not to do it. It’s just like an additional tiny Ticketmaster fee that no one really notices. I mean, I’m sure people notice, but a dollar when you’re buying a rock ticket isn’t all that noticeable. It’s raised maybe $600,000 or $700,000 at this point, and that’s all from our audiences. We haven’t had to do anything. It’s just something no one noticed, and then all of the sudden there was all this money going to Haiti.’
Said like this it would seem that it is the public who is really the one taking the money out of its pocket, but the band has vowed to match every dollar donated by the fans.
Every thing I have read about their charity work says it is in fact a much more transparent affair than Bono’s self promoting business, as it was recently reported that Bono’s foundation ONE in reality gave only 1.2 % to charity, whereas $8 million was spent on executive and employee salaries! When you have a charity which raises money to promote itself rather than donating to those who need help, you fail.
So let’s hope Arcade Fire is not the next Bono, so far they have done a lot for Haiti. But Win, Will’s brother, has to stop praising Bono like he did this summer!