so here's a mini moral dilemma for you. This is actually happening.

So you've been asked to play at a charity event, in aid of a couple of charities you didn't know about until this event. You agree, and try and get as many people there as possible.

You have a CD that you would normally give away for free at your shows, as an easy means of self promotion. However, you feel a bit uneasy doing that at a charity event, where the focus should be more on raising money for charity as opposed to self-promotion. So you come up with a comprimise - you will sell the CD, and every penny of the money you get will go to the charities involved. You ask the guy putting on the event, and he says that he's fine with it.

Is this a morally sound thing to do? Bearing in mind that the reason you're selling the CDs isn't primarily for raising money for charity, but for self-promotion - the money raising is like a by-product. On the other hand, nobody loses out with this situation, and in fact the charities get a little more money that they may not have got otherwise. Do the ends justify the means in this case?

Like I said, this is a real life mini dilemma. I'm playing at such a charity gig tonight. I don't think I'll go through with it, though - the moral guilt would freeze me, and the fact I'm debating this in my head is probably a bad sign, and in any case, I've only got about 20 CDs left and that will probably raise such a pitiful amount of money that it won't be worth the eternity spent in the fiery pits of hell reserved for me. Am I wrong?

I'll hand it over to you, DiS. Maybe a discussion of the moral rights and wrongs of self-promotion at charity events could ensue? What if U2 did it?

RB