Can benefit albums still raise money and awareness?

Amnesty International's benefit album celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, "Chimes of Freedom" - which features Bob Dylan songs played by a genre-busting, cross-generational cast - is a four-CD, 73-track (76 online) behemoth.

Even a partial list of contributors is jaw dropping: Sting, Adele, My Morning Jacket, Pete Townshend, Elvis Costello,
Johnny Cash, Cage the Elephant, Kesha, Miley Cyrus and the Mexican singer-songwriter Ximena Sariñana; all the
songs but one are previously unreleased. But the expansive lineup created a challenge.

"It's hard to get people to buy one CD these days, let alone four," said Julie Yannatta, who produced the album with Jeff Ayeroff.

In the late 1970s and early '80s, Amnesty staged shows called the Secret Policeman's Balls, which Bono and Bob Geldof have cited as fundamental in awakening their social consciences. After the star-studded Ethiopian famine relief benefits, Band Aid, Live Aid and We Are the World, in the mid-'80s, Amnesty began tours in 1986, featuring U2, Bruce Springsteen and others, which helped popularize its cause.

But music sales have fallen nearly 50 percent in the last decade, and the industry is working feverishly to develop new revenue sources, as streaming services, piracy, iTunes and other innovations change the way music is consumed.

Ms. Yannatta said she realized that for the new project, "We were going to have to do more with less and be creative."

The artists, producers and engineers donated their work, and Mr. Dylan donated his publishing royalties, enabling an appealing pricing scheme: The four-CD set retails for $24.99, or $19.99 digitally. Each song is also available individu -
ally online.

In 1995 the British charity War Child raised nearly $2 million with its first album, "Help." Its 2009 benefit, "Heroes," raised just over $300,000.

Now, "You're making the effort of putting a 15-track compilation together for people buying four tracks," said Ben
Knowles, War Child's fund-raising director.

The Red Hot Foundation, which benefits AIDS-related charities, is trying a more focused approach. Its first effort, in 1990, "Red, Hot + Blue," a tribute to Cole Porter, sold more than a million copies.

Its 2009 two-CD indie-rock compilation, "Dark Was the Night," has sold less well but because of lower production and marketing costs still raised over $1.2 million.

For "Chimes of Freedom," "we wanted diverse people," said Mr. Ayeroff. "If you love all 76 songs, great. But if you only love 20, it's still a deal," at $1.29 per track.

But someone who buys a single track from iTunes won't get any real information on Amnesty. Erin Potts, executive
director for Air Traffic Control, a nonprofit that consults on music-related philanthropy and activism, says that, as part of larger fund-raising or communications plans, benefit albums can still work.

"It's important to make them sharper by creating an engagement strategy around them," she wrote in an e-mail.

This could include "special-edition packages for fans willing to spend more money, especially for a good cause" and a chance to collect consumers' e-mail addresses.

Music for Relief, a nonprofit formed by the band Linkin Park, did something like that when it started Download to Donate after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. One donation provided access to an expanding playlist of songs by various artists.

Three Download to Donate compilations have raised over $400,000.

Expectations are more modest for "Chimes." The natural constituency for a collection of Dylan covers skews toward older fans still in the habit of buying albums. But Ken Kragen, executive producer on "We Are the World," argues
this has a downside.

"Every charity is looking to bring young enthusiasts into the fold," he said.

"With social media now you need to tap into the ways young people listen to, buy and share music."

Amnesty isn't ignoring this new paradigm. On December 10 it streamed the entire new album on its Facebook page.

The tracks will also be available on the subscription service Spotify, and Amnesty is posting 15 behind-the-scenes
videos to YouTube.

John Carlin, Red Hot's founder, suggested "Chimes" should have been offered as a phone app.

He added: "That would've been an exciting way to turn that unbelievable talent wrangling into an event that fit the contemporary world."