Buddha Bar Raises Tempo After Athletes Rock For Tibet
Sydney Morning Herald
Thursday August 21, 2008
ACCESS to Apple's online iTunes Store has been blocked in China after it emerged that Olympic athletes have been downloading a pro-Tibetan music album in an act of solidarity with the Dalai Lama.
The album, Songs For Tibet, was produced by the Art of Peace Foundation, and contains 20 tracks from such singers and songwriters as Sting, Moby, Suzanne Vega and Alanis Morissette.The foundation launched a campaign to provide free downloads to Olympians and urged them to wear iPods at the Games as a show of support. Money raised from sales of the album is being used by the non-profit organisation to support peace-related projects that are "dear to the Dalai Lama", the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader regarded by China as a "splittist".The US organisation Campaign for Tibet claims on its website that "over 40 Olympic athletes in North America, Europe and even Beijing" downloaded the album.The album became available at the iTunes Store on August 5, three days before the Games began. But on Monday expatriate iTunes users living in China reported they had begun to experience technical problems with their access, which had been unfettered. Many US, European and Australian expatriates in China access their home-based iTunes Store accounts from China to buy and download music, videos and podcasts. But because of the block, that is no longer possible.
© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald