Manipulate the iTunes Charts for Charity

An organization called Bum Rush the Charts, which calls itself a "virtual flash mob crossed with a charity," plans to encourage people worldwide to buy the a certain song on iTunes, in an attempt to drive it to the top of the charts and generate money, 45% of which will be used for college scholarships.

Somehow, this is also supposed to prove that people don't want to listen to hit music. From their manifesto:

"Podcasting gets little respect from traditional media. To them we'relittle more than a joke, than amateurs. What they don't understand isthat podcasting is more than just a delivery mechanism - it's a socialmovement. People are sick of the watered-down, cookie-cutter contentthat networks and record companies expect us to enjoy. People are tiredof watching friends and loved ones get sued by record labels who onlycare about profits and nothing else, not even the artists theysupposedly represent...

"On March 22nd, we are going to take an indie podsafe music artist tonumber one on the iTunes singles charts as a demonstration of our reachto Main Street and our purchasing power to Wall Street. The track we'vechosen is 'Mine Again' by the band Black Lab. A band that was droppedfrom not just one, but two major record labels (Geffen and Sony/Epic)
and in the process forced them to fight to get their own music back. Wepicked them because making them number one, even for just one day, willremind the RIAA record labels of what they turned their backs on - andwho they ignore at their peril.

"What's more, we're going to takeit a step beyond that. We've signed up as an affiliate of the iTunesMusic Store, and every commission made on the sale of 'Mine Again' willbe donated to college scholarships,
partly because it's a worthy cause, but also partly because collegestudents are among the most misunderstood and underestimated groups ofpeople by big media."

I'm a little skeptical, but it's an interesting concept. We'll see how this goes on March 22nd.