Twitter charity song an instant hit
Howard Lake | 7 December 2011 | News
The first charity single created via Twitter, #twitterxmassingle, was launched in Dublin this week and went straight to number 4 in the Irish iTunes chart, according to the Irish Independent.
‘Winter Song’, written by Sara Bareilles and Ingrid Michaelson, was created in response to a tweet from Brenda Drumm (@BrendaDrumm) from Newbridge in Co Kildare on 19 November. She asked: “Wouldn’t it be great to have a Twitter Xmas Single?”
Within hours she was getting responses from musicians, singers, studio technicians, and other well-wishers across the country keen to help.
What about recording a Twitter Xmas single / anyone? #xmasnumber1 #xfactor
Brenda Drumm
BrendaDrumm
The crowdsourced Christmas single was recorded eight days later on 27 November in the Westin Hotel in Dublin, and involved 140 people.
The song will raise money for the Neonatal Special Care Unit in the National Maternity Hospital in Holles Street, Dublin.
“It’s a beautiful song but also perfect because it seems like the lyrics were written by someone who has watched their child being cared for in the neonatal unit,” commented Ms Drumm, a cancer survivor who began using Twitter in 2007 when she took a year off to battle the illness.
The song features 16 solo singers and a choir of 90.
The track is available through iTunes and the organisers, of course, are hoping that it could become a Christmas number one.
Ms Drumm added: “I had no idea that anything like this would happen and it really just shows the power of Twitter and the generosity and good will in the hearts of Irish people.”
You can download Winter Song from iTunes at
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About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.