Norah Jones

EMI Group has its rallied artists and songwriters to donate items for a massive eBay auction to raise funds for the Japanese Red Cross disaster relief efforts to help those affected by last month’s earthquake and tsunami. The multi-national music company will also match all funds raised from the "EMI Family 4 Japan" auction up to a maximum of one million euros ($1,392,182.64 CAD).

While the first phase of the auction featuring more than 200 items ends tomorrow (April 15), a second auction is already underway (ending April 21). Some of the very cool items up for bid include a 1987 Ferrari 412 as featured in Daft Punk’s film Electroma; Katy Perry’s cupcake trampoline from her current California Dreams world tour; a framed guitar signed by Coldplay and a triple platinum sales award from Canada for Viva La Vida; access to private concert rehearsal by Sting; three framed and signed prints of David Gilmour taken in Gdansk; more than 30 albums individually signed by David Bowie; a limited-edition Beatles’ Yellow Submarine Schwinn bicycle; a signed guitar from Norah Jones; the MacBook used by David Guetta to create the demos for One Love; framed handwritten lyrics from Brian Wilson; and a limited-edition Gorillaz lithograph signed by Jamie Hewlett and Damon Albarn.

To celebrate Earth Day’s 40^th Anniversary on April 22, EMI Music has launched the Live Life Greener CD series, beginning with six popular catalog titles from a diverse crop of artists — Norah Jones, The Steve Miller Band, Frank Sinatra, Poison, Pat Benatar and Heart. What makes these packages eco-friendly is that each box contains a reusable woven shopping bag.

The first round of releases are Pat Benatar’s gold-selling Greatest Hits; Heart’s gold Greatest Hits; Norah Jones’ diamond Come Away With Me; The Steve Miller Band’s diamond Greatest Hits 1974-78; Poison’s gold The Best Of Poison: 20 Years Of Rock; and Frank Sinatra’s double-platinum Classic Sinatra. All certifications are U.S. where gold signifies sales of 500,000 units; platinum 1 million; and diamond 10 million; these gold and platinum albums achieved the same certification in Canada, where figures were a tenth of the U.S. The series is available at the ususal outlets for $13.99 or less.