In honor of National Freedom Day, the band The Museum is offering free downloads of its song “Not for Sale,” inspired by the book Not For Sale by David Batstone about the global slave trade.

We recently spoke with The Museum’s singer Ben Richter about the group’s headlining “Not for Sale Freedom Tour,” which kicks off Feb. 9.  Their partnership with the Not For Sale Campaign is driving the purpose of the entire tour.

This tour is being highlighted as “a tour with a purpose.” Can you share a little more about what that means to you and the rest of the band?

We feel like if we write songs with no purpose behind them, we’re wasting our time. We want to do whatever we can to encourage people to make positive changes in the world.

We want to fight human slavery, a huge reality in 161 countries right now involving over 27 million people, and [fueling] a $32 billion industry. It is a giant thing that we have to take small steps to overcome. So as a band, we’ve entered into a partnership with Not For Sale to raise awareness and fight human trafficking. My drummer (Josh Kirk) and I came across the book, Not for Sale, and had this thought, “What if we made a shirt to raise money to help Not For Sale?” We didn’t even have a relationship with the organization [at the time], but we wanted to help so we created these T-shirts, and as soon as Not For Sale saw checks coming in, they contacted us and we’ve since created a partnership with them. This tour is meant to be a night that creates awareness that no matter who someone is or how much money they have, they can help free slaves.

What is going to set this tour apart from a regular one?

This tour is different because it’s not one that Not For Sale is sponsoring, but [instead] every night on the tour is for them. We’re trying to put creative ways in front of people for how they can get involved [with abolishing slavery]. The night will start with a video opened by Dave Batstone, founder of Not For Sale. Throughout our [music] set, we will also play [other] videos and then will share our new “Not for Sale” song, which we’re excited to do. Not For Sale representatives will share their stories from stage and then we’re going to close out the night with Rapture Ruckus (touring with The Museum) for a little after party feel with their pop rock/hip hop vibe. Afterwards, people can come into the lobby and talk about ways to get involved with Not For Sale.

Why Not For Sale? What drew you to this organization more than any other?

For me the difference was hearing individual life stories of a few young girls, ages 11 and 12, being pulled into trafficking. That’s what made me ask, “What can we do to make a difference?”

Along with this, I was in Washington and got to talk to a pastor from Cambodia. There is a huge amount of slave trafficking in Cambodia and in surrounding countries, and this pastor has set up a trade center for young women to help get them out of the brothels and then train them in a trade until they reach the age of 18 years old and really give them a chance at life. Coming into the trade center, these girls are totally devastated at the ages of 11 and 12, but seeing photos of them after being in these trade centers, gaining their lives back — it’s incredible. They look like totally different people. If we can send over some support to help three girls, 20 girls, 80 girls, that’s worth it.

What are the best practical ways for someone to get involved with Not For Sale’s campaign?

Visit the Not For Sale website and our website — we’ve got a lot of resources and links there. People can help by doing very simple things. Not For Sale will send you DVD materials to host a house party and raise awareness with your friends about slavery. A lot of the issue [with continued slavery] is awareness; even some of the products that we buy at our local stores actually [keep] people in slavery.

If you’re a student, there are student abolitionist groups at high schools and on college campuses to help raise awareness and funds. There are even online opportunities like Free 2 Work for businesses to partner with helping end slavery, and also Free 2 Play for sports teams and individuals who want to get involved.

We’re also really excited about something we’re doing on this tour — we’re calling it “28 to Emancipate” and encouraging people to give $28 a month to help abolish slavery.

Download “Not for Sale” the song free today through www.themuseumisnotforsale.com.