On March 22, 2007, a bunch of  podcasters are aiming to game the charts in the iTunes Music Store for at least a day by asking everyone involved in podcasting to buy just one song, a specific song, Mine Again by Black Lab, that day. The effort, called Bum Rush the Charts, is designed to demonstrate to old media that podcasting has reach and more importantly, purchasing power.

As we’ve talked about in the past, iTunes has an affiliate store, where affiliates earn a commission on sales. I’ve demonstrated in Beer Money segments on the podcast how to get started with that, but truthfully, 5% isn’t a lot of money unless you’re talking large transactions, like loans or real estate. 5% of 99 cents is… 5 cents. You’d have to sell a ton of tracks to make even a modest income.

An idea struck me during the drive home tonight. Why not get everyone to use one affiliate link for the promotion, which Mark Nemcoff is calling Bum Rush the Charts? We’d get a pretty decently sized pool of affiliate fees that way, if the power of podcasting is as strong as we think it is.

The followup hit me just as quickly. We’ll turn this into a scholarship opportunity, too. Until yesterday, the Pell Grant had no sizeable increases in years. Federal financial aid isn’t keeping pace with the cost of a college education. Let’s put it all together. We demonstrate the power of podcasting, pool a bunch of affiliate fees together, and help a needy college student pay for college with the profits.

So here’s how it’s going to work. If you are participating in the Bum Rush the Charts campaign, and you want to Bum Rush Tuition as well, use this URL everywhere:

http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com/bumrush

This will link to the iTunes music store and Black Lab’s song Mine Again. 5% of your purchases on March 22, 2007 will be routed into the Student Loan Network iTunes account. On March 27, 2007, 5 days after the Bum Rush campaign ends, Mark Nemcoff and CC Chapman will log into my account and validate the results of the campaign, in terms of profits earned. We will pool all the affiliate fees together and disburse them to one lucky college student.

Here’s the kicker. I believe in the power of podcasting. So does the Student Loan Network, and my executive team here, CEO Joe Cronin and COO Geoffrey Willison. We’re going to put our money where our iPods are, too. Not only will we give 100% of the affiliate fees earned, SLN will match dollar for dollar the first $1,000 in affiliate fees earned through the Financial Aid Podcast bum rush link.

Now, if you’re a college student enrolled at an accredited institution, and you want to be eligible for the Bum Rush Tuition Scholarship, how do you get involved? Simple. We’re going to use our existing scholarship program, Scholarship Points. Set up your free profile there, enter promo code BUMRUSH, and on March 31, 2007, along with our regular quarterly scholarship awards, we’ll host the Bum Rush Tuition Scholarship award as well.

How much will the scholarship be? That all depends on you. My audience, your audience, your friends. Spread the word about Bum Rush the Charts. Tell a friend. Tell your blog readers. Are you a new media company that believes in the power of podcasting? Contact me about pledging a matching dollar contribution of any size. If you’re a college student, haul it over to Scholarship Points today and enter code BUMRUSH into your profile to be eligible. I believe in the power of podcasting, and I believe on March 31, 2007, we could be giving someone a full tuition scholarship - but only with your help.