The album was produced by Mike Shinoda and co-produced by Enrique Iglesias.

American rock band Linkin Park started a project called Music for Relief in 2005, which has done relief work for the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami and Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

In 2011, a sequel to the album, titled Download to Donate for Haiti V2.0, was released.

The project was started by Music for Relief, who is working alongside United Nations Foundation, Habitat for Humanity and the Dave Matthews Band's BAMA Works to provide food, water, medical supplies and sustainable housing for those affected by the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

Mike Shinoda and Enrique Iglesias promoted the compilation on Larry King Live.