Free tickets on offer with Arctic Monkey's Oxfam single

Shoppers picking up Arctic Monkeys' new single from Oxfam today could win "golden tickets" to see them in person.

Fans buying the vinyl version of the release, titled Crying Lightning, from the charity's shops will have the chance to see the group headline the Reading and Leeds Festivals, as two of the records will contain a winning code when entered online.

One pair of Reading tickets and one pair of Leeds tickets are up for grabs, hidden in the lucky singles on sale in Oxfam shops.

The initiative marks the first time Oxfam shops have sold a new release single for a quarter of a century - since Band Aid's Do They Know It's Christmas? in 1984.

Forty copies of the single, signed by the Arctic Monkeys, will also be distributed throughout Oxfam's network of 700 shops.

A further 15 will also be sent out randomly to customers who order the single from www.oxfam.org.uk/shop.

The singles are priced at £2.99, and each will come with a download code allowing fans to get an MP3 version of the songs for free.

Proceeds from the sales will help the charity's lifesaving work around the world.

David McCullough, Oxfam's director of trading, said: "Oxfam shops have always been one of the best places on the high street to pick up a musical bargain or find a rare treasure, and this is a fantastic reason to pay your local shop a visit."

The limited edition 7ins single is the first release from the band's new album Humbug, which features a cover of the Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds classic Red Right Hand as a B-side.

Humbug goes on sale nationwide on August 24, and the band headline Reading and Leeds on 28 August and 29.

The competition is open until 24 August and, if the tickets go unclaimed, prize winners will be selected at random from those who bought the single but who did not have a winning code on the record's sleeve insert when it was entered online.

More than 600 Oxfam shops across the country sell second-hand music.

The charity sells around £6m of music every year, enough to fund its entire programme in Indonesia for a year, buy 187,000 emergency shelters, or provide safe water for eight million people.

Its largest single donation was of 4,000 vinyl albums to an Oxfam shop in Devon in 2008.

The band and the charity are encouraging music fans to bring in any unwanted albums or singles to their local Oxfam when they pick up their copy of the single.

To find your local shop stocking the single visit www.oxfam.org.uk/arcticmonkeys or www.arcticmonkeys.com.