Amnesty International Launches Make Some Noise

On Dec. 10, Amnesty International will join with contemporary artists to release covers of classic John Lennon songs as part of Amnesty’s Make Some Noise campaign. The project aims to promote human rights awareness and activism, featuring artists like the Black Eyed Peas, The Cure, Snow Patrol and the Postal Service. December 10 is International Human Rights Day, the anniversary of the signing of Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948.

Four singles will be released on December 10: “Power to the People,” “Isolation,” “Love,” and “Grow Old With Me”. They can be downloaded as singles from Amnesty’s website in December or as the full album later in 2006. Yoko Ono donated the rights to Lennon’s solo songbook to Amnesty in 2003, and has said, “music which is so familiar to many people of my era will now be embraced by a whole new generation. John’s music set out to inspire change, just as Make Some Noise does. In standing up for human rights, we really can make the world a better place.”

The project began in earnest over the last year, when the international headquarters of Amnesty began working with an Amsterdam-based creative agency called 180. It has been 180’s job to help integrate a global campaign for Make Some Noise. They coordinate creative, technological and marketing strategies, and ultimately promote the entire project worldwide.

Once the campaign had a home base and foundation to start from, the task of approaching artists and producers to participate began. Make Some Noise’s London-based Senior Project Manager, Stephanie Newman has been aiding on the project since the early stages. “We’re really finding that when we knock on doors they’re just open, and artists are excited to get involved,” she said. “Now, I think, musicians are realizing that they want to use their fame and celebrity for a good cause. And we’re seeing it in all kinds of exciting initiatives.”

The songs have been recorded throughout 2005, whenever the artists had a day to spare during their increasingly busy holiday schedules. Newman gave Avril Lavigne as an example, who donated a day during her tour in Tokyo to work on and record one of Lennon's songs. The Cure recorded closer to home, tacking on a day to their existing studio sessions in West London. All of the artists and producers are donating their time for the cause.

On the evening of Dec. 10, the UK launch of Make Some Noise will take place on British television’s Top-10-call-in show Record of the Year. The Black Eyed Peas were scheduled to perform as part of the regular programming, and have been granted extra time to play their rendition of “Power to the People,” with guest vocalists John Legend and Mary J. Blige. A digital-video of the performance will stream on Amnesty’s website sometime after December 13.

Helen Garrett, Marketing Director for Amnesty International’s U.S. section, finds this project to be one of the most innovative in recent memory. Despite Amnesty’s already impressive roster of members and donors (1.8 million people in over 150 countries), Garrett believes that this project will help promote Amnesty to the people that are unsure of their potential roles in human rights. “Getting involved with human rights shouldn’t just be viewed as something for lawyers and college professors and intellectuals. We want to make it something for everybody to get involved in—because human rights affect everybody,” she said. Newman agrees, “Human rights are universal and they should be part of mass, popular culture.” Amnesty hopes this campaign will help raise awareness and membership, aiming for 1 million new members by 2007.

Amnesty International is a global, grass-roots human rights group, and the world’s largest organization of its kind. They have won a Nobel Peace Prize for their work against torture, and have risen into the public eye for help with Prisoners of Conscience—people imprisoned for peaceful expression of their beliefs. To download the songs or learn more about Amnesty International, visit amnesty.org.

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