Kantar data on free U2 album consumption by Apple device users.

[RaisedByWolves]

Is there a Pitchfork article about it yet? (Somewhere between Kanye West article #1 and Kanye West article #350)

Best comment ever!

 

[U2DMfan]

This copout shouldn't even warrant a response. The music videos with the highest view counts are artists who have a largely female audience. In fact, it's been documented to show that the more zealous fangirls get into view count competitions to keep their view counts above the competition.

It's also been documented that plenty of men will watch Katy Perry whether she's singing or doing literally anything else.

 

[ImNotSleeping]

The Bono quote is legit and taken from a press release to an industry publication. U2 | Nasty Little Man

Bono212 - the quote is misleading at 23%, nearly 1/4 of listeners, because it doesn't stipulate that for the purposes of the poll the criteria was listening to at least one song? I'm not sure I agree.

Kantar data on free U2 album consumption by Apple device users - Kantar

 

[Bad Exit]

Thank god they didn't made the study based on u2 fans message boards.

 

[bono_212]

The Kantar article says at least once.

 

[Salome]

Unless you choose to believe that the intention of the release method was to convert millions of teens to become full fledged members of team U2, I don't see how this an be interpreted as anything but a clear success.

As much as I love No Line, that album came and went without anyone outside the fanbase noticing. At least the same can't be said about SOI.

 

[Hewson]

As it only takes one play to register in the data, we could be squabbling over 225 U2 plays here (or 214 SOI plays) across 978 people. The percentage is massive on paper, but we know U2 is a unique case; they are the only artist in the study to give a free album to everyone.

I would love to think that the population of iOS users are listening to U2's back catalog, but when 95% of them have heard a song from their free album (which may or may not have been unwittingly left in the 225 devices in question, we don't know) and all it takes is one play to count as a "U2 listener"...well, suffice it to say I'm not ready to proclaim that U2 is more relevant to iOS users than Taylor Swift and Katy Perry combined.

Wake me up when there's a list of total plays from each artist throughout the month of January 2015. If U2 is in the same position, then I'll be convinced. As far as measuring popularity, this study is about as useful as the "SOI was 'experienced' by 849384247085045048540540 people" study from September.

zactly

 

[ImNotSleeping]

The Kantar article says at least once.

Twenty-three percent of all music users on Apple's operating system listened to at least one U2 track in January-more than twice the percentage who listened to the second-placing artist, Taylor Swift (11%). - See more at: Kantar data on free U2 album consumption by Apple device users - Kantar

 

[bono_212]

um...yes?

 

[ImNotSleeping]

This article is inaccurate, as it claims the data says the 23% of people are listening to U2, not just a single song. It's definitely misleading.

Perhaps I misunderstood your post here?

 

[Hewson]

Twenty-three percent of all music users on Apple's operating system listened to at least one U2 track in January-more than twice the percentage who listened to the second-placing artist, Taylor Swift (11%). - See more at: Kantar data on free U2 album consumption by Apple device users - Kantar

And "at least one" could mean once.
The info is definitely a tad incomplete.

 

[ImNotSleeping]

I see that point, but in relation to the other 2499 users, they were still at the top of the top 10. Can we let that count for something?

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

You don't like the album, you didn't like the release method, and it's pretty clear that no matter what kind of positive data is released, you'll dismiss it.

ahhhh yes, the old "you just don't like the album" argument.

that's a good one, especially considering that my entire argument has been that the album is good enough to stand on it's own but has been diluted by the egocentric release method and questionable marketing decisions.

if i didn't like the album, i wouldn't argue that a strong promotional campaign, starting with the week of Fallon and continuing through the World Aids Day show, etc., would have helped revive the album. if the album was a dud, nothing would revive it (see No Line On The Horizon). Bono's accident crushed any chance of reviving this album.

do i think they're nuts for leaving Crystal Ballroom off the album? yea. do i like every song on the album? no, although i have to say i've grown to accept California for what it is. overall it's their strongest work since the early 2000s, and contains my favorite U2 song since the 90s in The Troubles.

this album should be more successful than it is. it isn't because of the FUBARed release method. they had good intent, but they overshot. fairly or unfairly, the backlash from the release overshadowed what is otherwise an excellent album. an album which deserved a chance to breath on it's own, but never got that chance.

and again... for the millionth fucking time... i think the majority of those who whined about it should fucking get over it. but that it's stupid that people were annoyed by the release doesn't matter. enough were to turn the album into a punchline. period.

pop met a similar fate. it was labeled a dance album, and was started off by some questionable marketing decisions. it's not a fucking dance album, and the album turned into a joke that was undeserved. but the public perception outweighed the reality. that's all it takes.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

As it only takes one play to register in the data, we could be squabbling over 225 U2 plays here (or 214 SOI plays) across 978 people. The percentage is massive on paper, but we know U2 is a unique case; they are the only artist in the study to give a free album to everyone.

I would love to think that the population of iOS users are listening to U2's back catalog, but when 95% of them have heard a song from their free album (which may or may not have been unwittingly left in the 225 devices in question, we don't know) and all it takes is one play to count as a "U2 listener"...well, suffice it to say I'm not ready to proclaim that U2 is more relevant to iOS users than Taylor Swift and Katy Perry combined.

Wake me up when there's a list of total plays from each artist throughout the month of January 2015. If U2 is in the same position, then I'll be convinced. As far as measuring popularity, this study is about as useful as the "SOI was 'experienced' by 849384247085045048540540 people" study from September.

zomg you're just not a u2z fan!

 

[LemonMelon]

I'm at the Axver phase in my time here, I guess.

One album is all it takes!

 

[popacrobat]

It's also been documented that plenty of men will watch Katy Perry whether she's singing or doing literally anything else.

Confirmed

 

[Cancer45]

"The survey conducted by the Kantar Group noted that 95% of iOS users who listened to any U2 music on their devices listened to one or MORE songs from “Songs of Innocence.”

this is from the los Angeles Times

LA Times

 

[Danny Boy]

Last time I checked, "one" was a subset of "one or more."

 

[Danny Boy]

Deleted.

 

[Montrose]

Remember that the free release, paired with a sale of their older albums, had also given nearly all of U2's back catalog a huge sales bump on iTunes. Seems that has gotten U2's music, past and present, listened to a whole lot more lately on Apple devices than it likely would have without the 'free purchase' tactic.

So it failed miserably.




Sent from my fingertips.

 

[Mack_Again]

I feel like some people just want to push for the idea of streaming rather than actually make customers pay for the music. I really believe that YouTube view counts or MP3 circulation should be measured to show what's popular. I wish there were MTV 120 minutes, but, unfortunately, no

 

[Mack_Again]

I also saw that exact prerequisites for being surveyed was ownership of a U2 iPod, replicas of Bono's Fly glasses, a distaste for Coldplay, delay pedals, and a Vox guitar amp.

Honestly, if you don't believe a marketing research firm because it doesn't feel right to you, then fuck it. No one cares anyway.

All I can say is, U2 360 was the biggest tour of my generation. HTDAAB along with American Idiot were some of the most talked about albums during high school. And it wasn't uncommon to see Elevation tour T-shirts in the 7th grade. I'm only 25, and I've been a fan of the band since ATYCLB. My girlfriend, who predominately listens to alternative music like Bon Iver, Fleet Foxes, Lana Del Ray, and M83, thinks Every Breaking Wave and The Troubles is the shit, can't stand Mysterious Ways, thinks the Joshua Tree is just okay, and insists U2 in Under The Blood Red Sky is the coolest fucking musical event she has ever seen on video. If you think U2 is limited to a certain audience, then you are just ignorant to proclaim so. There are preteens making SOI fan videos on YouTube. They probably don't even know who U2 even looks like.

U2 always had fans across the entire age spectrum, and that doesn't make it surprising that a 1/4 of all active iTunes listeners listen to them, especially considering THEY GAVE AWAY A WHOLE FUCKING ALBUM TO EVERYBODY ON ITUNES. Good god, most of them probably are just listening to Every Breaking Wave because the song is fucking fantastic.

I agree that younger people can like U2, as 20-year-old-me is a great U2 fan since 7 years ago or so when I listened to SBS for the first time on the radio. And for a guy who still listens to bands like the Smiths, RATM, Soundgarden, the Police, etc, I don't really mind the demographic of those music, good thing is good.

 

[last unicorn]

Even Madonna's manager, Guy Oseary, re-tweeted this:

‏@stereogum

U2 accounted for nearly one-fourth of all listens on iOS devices last month U2 Accounted For Nearly 1/4 Of All Listeners On iOS Devices Last Month - Stereogum

I didn't know he had any U2 connection.

 

[Hawkmoon269]

Even Madonna's manager, Guy Oseary, re-tweeted this:



I didn't know he had any U2 connection.

lol! He took a 2 minute break from his busy madonna schedule

 

[bobsaget77]

Remember that the free release, paired with a sale of their older albums, had also given nearly all of U2's back catalog a huge sales bump on iTunes. Seems that has gotten U2's music, past and present, listened to a whole lot more lately on Apple devices than it likely would have without the 'free purchase' tactic.

So it failed miserably.




Sent from my fingertips.

Yeah. What was it 23 albums in the itunes 100 at one point? Biggest and most publicized release of all time....
Yup. Definetly a failure. Guess it's time for them to pack it up because they don't have the balls to take risks anymore.



Sent from my iPhone using U2 Interference

 

[bono_212]

This argument is tiring. The only thing I take from the stats is this, as I've mentioned: People didn't delete SOI off of their iTunes accounts, clearly. The big story was that, according to the outraged youth of Twitter, everyone wanted to be able to delete the album off of their accounts. Apparently that wasn't the truth. Or at least people really didn't actually care as much as the noise made it seem. So that's your story, that's the only thing you can take from these completely unexplained statistics. It's the only data readily available from what we know.

What I don't understand, what I can't understand, is what happened with this forum, but I feel like a broken record at this point. It used to feel like there was a middle ground of people here that you could have a conversation about the band with. There's a middle ground to this stats conversation, for example. It doesn't have to be that the release was a success, or that the data must be flawed. It can simply be that the story was blown out of proportion by people on the Internet doing what they do best: Making noise.

The room for logical discussion like that, though, seems to have totally gone out the window.

 

[Salome]

This argument is tiring. The only thing I take from the stats is this, as I've mentioned: People didn't delete SOI off of their iTunes accounts, clearly. The big story was that, according to the outraged youth of Twitter, everyone wanted to be able to delete the album off of their accounts. Apparently that wasn't the truth. Or at least people really didn't actually care as much as the noise made it seem. So that's your story, that's the only thing you can take from these completely unexplained statistics. It's the only data readily available from what we know.

The other thing we can take from these statistics is that more songs of SOI reached people than was the case with No Line.

Even when you half the outcome of the statistic to account for people skipping songs and whatnot, the amount of people hearing at least some of the band's work has increased an enormous amount compared to the prior album.

As far as I can tell that was exactly what the release strategy, from U2's point of view, was supposed to achieve.
I believe Bono has spoken a couple of times after No Line how he fears that the band isn't able to reach potential listeners. He didn't seem so much concerned whether people love, like or dislike their music but very concerned that someone might have loved one of their songs but never got to hear/discover it.

Taking out of the equation the false pretense that the release strategy's aim was to make people fall in love with the album, these statistics do proof that the strategy was successful.
Whether the album itself is successful is a different topic and because of lack of sales info (not many people buy an album they got for free) difficult to assess. U2 will consider it a good sign that their back catalog did very well on iTunes. Lack of radio play might however concern them.

 

[Cancer45]

The other thing we can take from these statistics is that more songs of SOI reached people than was the case with No Line.

Even when you half the outcome of the statistic to account for people skipping songs and whatnot, the amount of people hearing at least some of the band's work has increased an enormous amount compared to the prior album.

As far as I can tell that was exactly what the release strategy, from U2's point of view, was supposed to achieve.
I believe Bono has spoken a couple of times after No Line how he fears that the band isn't able to reach potential listeners. He didn't seem so much concerned whether people love, like or dislike their music but very concerned that someone might have loved one of their songs but never got to hear/discover it.

Taking out of the equation the false pretense that the release strategy's aim was to make people fall in love with the album, these statistics do proof that the strategy was successful.
Whether the album itself is successful is a different topic and because of lack of sales info (not many people buy an album they got for free) difficult to assess. U2 will consider it a good sign that their back catalog did very well on iTunes. Lack of radio play might however concern them.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

The other thing we can take from these statistics is that more songs of SOI reached people than was the case with No Line.

Even when you half the outcome of the statistic to account for people skipping songs and whatnot, the amount of people hearing at least some of the band's work has increased an enormous amount compared to the prior album.

As far as I can tell that was exactly what the release strategy, from U2's point of view, was supposed to achieve.
I believe Bono has spoken a couple of times after No Line how he fears that the band isn't able to reach potential listeners. He didn't seem so much concerned whether people love, like or dislike their music but very concerned that someone might have loved one of their songs but never got to hear/discover it.

Taking out of the equation the false pretense that the release strategy's aim was to make people fall in love with the album, these statistics do proof that the strategy was successful.
Whether the album itself is successful is a different topic and because of lack of sales info (not many people buy an album they got for free) difficult to assess. U2 will consider it a good sign that their back catalog did very well on iTunes. Lack of radio play might however concern them.

I'm fine with this, and have said multiple times that if the goal was simply to get it out there to as many people as is humanly possible without caring about whether or not they wanted it, liked it or any other opinion, then yes... It was a giant success in that regards. The second the proverbial button was pressed that pushed it out, that goal was accomplished. Not exactly a high threshold to measure success.

And yes, the back catalog saw a bump in the first couple of days... which happens on every single album release. Was the bump bigger this time around? Maybe, I'm not really sure. I'd love to see some comparative numbers on that.

This was the first time anyone has done something like this. It will also likely be the last time. Kudos to them for trying something new. In retrospect I'd bet the house that they wish it would have just been available for free rather than pushed, which would have avoided all of this. They've already hinted at just that. They're not sorry for doing it, but wish it could have gone a little better.

But there is no denying that whenever this album is brought up the first thing people will talk about is not the music, but rather the release method. It will be a giant shadow cast over this album forever. The discussion will always start with people trying to delete the album as opposed to the merits of the material contained on the album. If you don't want to call that "failure," fine. But it is the truth, and it's a damn shame, because this album deserved better.

 

[Axver]

I'm at the Axver phase in my time here, I guess.

One album is all it takes!

The "Axver phase"?

I could not be more proud.