U2 Unorganized on the Horizon / The U2 Machinery

[zoo99]

How can such a "well oiled machine" be so piss poor when rolling out certain elements of their new album?

Things that make you go

Why not have the website updated to at the very least some sort of temporary setup that reflects the new album/single not some five year old graphics and theme.

Who's idea was it to announce that the single would not be available for download until February the 15th, who's the genius that thought that was a good idea in the first place? so after all the news outlets gave U2 a shit load of free advertising the past week U2 corp. gives out bad info.

This one they may not be able to control but the way the whole itunes chart thing works is really going to hurt them. Having the two copies of GOYB hovering on the top 30 where if they had them combined it would be breaking the top ten and as far as itunes goes once you break the top ten the sales are expediently bigger due to the exposure the top ten gets. Maybe they don't care about chart positions and sales anymore and if thats the case that's cool but i have a hard time believing that.

Is it that hard to send out one image of the album cover ?

When using someone else's non original art work how do they not ask the question " Mr. Sugimoto, has this image been used on any other albums" or for that matter are we going to see this image on a poster at ikea next year?

I could go on and I know its kind of nitpicking but they've had 4 years to get this shit ready, Paul McG needs to start busting some balls and get this straight.

 

[Chill Mike D]

Is it that hard to send out one image of the album cover ?

When using someone else's non original art work how do they not ask the question " Mr. Sugimoto, has this image been used on any other albums" or for that matter are we going to see this image on a poster at ikea next year?

lol

 

[Scorpionac]

I for one am impressed that they even addressed the album image's former use.

 

[MMP]

Completely agree.
I mean, U2 is like a corporation, how can McGuine$$ let thing come to this point? It's awful.

Btw, best named thread after the italians one.

 

[BVS]

Wow, what a bunch of nitpicking non-issue bullshit...

I'm assuming the website redesign is going to be big and either coincide with the album release or another single...

I'm loving the fact that U2 is releasing Boots first and being(compared to U2) really low key about it... It tells me they are releasing another single right before the album, or they have some other idea planned.

They have only sent out one image of the album cover. As far as using the image, who cares? This is being made into a much bigger issue than it is.

As far as the download thing I'm not sure what happened, but it doesn't seem like anything anyone should get upset over... You got it earlier than expected.

 

[tomtom]

Totally agree with everything the original poster said. Thoroughly unprofessional on all fronts. If I was U2, I'd be letting go of some people right now.

 

[Scorpionac]

If I was U2, I'd be letting go of some people right now.

Particularly Larry. Just for the hell of it.

 

[LemonMelon]

I'll join in when/if they allow GOYB to be the only single released in some form between now and April.

 

[tomtom]

And they need to steal some people off of Springsteen's website staff. Now THAT is a frickin' URL if I ever saw one.

 

[zoo99]

Wow, what a bunch of nitpicking non-issue bullshit...

I'm assuming the website redesign is going to be big and either coincide with the album release or another single...

I'm loving the fact that U2 is releasing Boots first and being(compared to U2) really low key about it... It tells me they are releasing another single right before the album, or they have some other idea planned.

They have only sent out one image of the album cover. As far as using the image, who cares? This is being made into a much bigger issue than it is.

As far as the download thing I'm not sure what happened, but it doesn't seem like anything anyone should get upset over... You got it earlier than expected.

I said it was nitpicking myself just hope it isn't a indication of things to come. Don't get me wrong nothing against u2 at all for these problems, I know they pay alot of people alot of $ to take care of this kinda stuff for them, as for who cares ? well unless you think Larry really enjoys using Grammy acceptance speech's to apologize for other peoples screw ups I would say they do.

 

[chocky]

It tells me they are releasing another single right before the album

I REALLY don't get why people would even suggest this.

Outside of the US, the iTunes version of GOYB isn't released until January 24 and the CD single comes out on 14 February, with the album following just 2 weeks later on 27 February for Europe/Asia.

When - between 14 Februay and 27 February - would U2 release another single? And why?

GOYB won't even start charting in many countries until late February, why would the band/management detroy it's chances of topping the charts by simultaneously releasing a second single - especially when the CD single actually includes TWO album tracks.

The only hope ifor a quasi-second single is that radio stations pick up the song No Line on the Horizon (the b-side to GOYB) and it charts on it's own due to airplay.

 

[nathan1977]

Wow, what a bunch of nitpicking non-issue bullshit...

I'm assuming the website redesign is going to be big and either coincide with the album release or another single...

I'm loving the fact that U2 is releasing Boots first and being(compared to U2) really low key about it... It tells me they are releasing another single right before the album, or they have some other idea planned.

They have only sent out one image of the album cover. As far as using the image, who cares? This is being made into a much bigger issue than it is.

As far as the download thing I'm not sure what happened, but it doesn't seem like anything anyone should get upset over... You got it earlier than expected.

Well said.

 

[Shaizari]

agree with zoo99, nitpicking is justified, some people will throw themselves in front of a car just for U2, but credit where credit is due and criticism where criticism is due.

 

[lazarus]

In all fairness, it does seem a little odd that the artist didn't say to the band "Hey by the way, you know this has been licensed out by another band before, right?"

I doubt the band would have gone ahead with it had they known the idea wasn't original.

 

[kingofsorrow]

i'm not getting any of this.

 

[last unicorn]

This fuzz about the album cover is getting out of hand. Hell, they should just go back and take a different one to end this. But I guess U2 wants exactly that cover. There is a reason, they have an effect in mind, and the cover is modified. Some people are just overreacting. Everything in art has been used before.

 

[phommel]

Everything in art has been used before.

Every artist is a cannibal, every poet is a thief
All kill their inspiration and sing about their grief

 

[Irishteen]

I REALLY don't get why people would even suggest this.

Outside of the US, the iTunes version of GOYB isn't released until January 24 and the CD single comes out on 14 February, with the album following just 2 weeks later on 27 February for Europe/Asia.

When - between 14 Februay and 27 February - would U2 release another single? And why?

GOYB won't even start charting in many countries until late February, why would the band/management detroy it's chances of topping the charts by simultaneously releasing a second single - especially when the CD single actually includes TWO album tracks.

The only hope ifor a quasi-second single is that radio stations pick up the song No Line on the Horizon (the b-side to GOYB) and it charts on it's own due to airplay.

Boots has been released in France, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden to. It's like they threw darts at a world map and that's how they decided where to release the single

 

[ramblin rose]

I could go on and I know its kind of nitpicking but they've had 4 years to get this shit ready, Paul McG needs to start busting some balls and get this straight.

Personally, I don't think your nitpicking.

I've come to the conclusion that there are one of two reasons for this.

One is that U2 don't have the business sense to worry about these type of details. Sure they're on top of moving their business to another tax jurisdiction, but when it comes to the nitty gritty of their business decisions they don't have a clue.

The other possibility is that they wish all these things would be ready or done properly but in the end these things are being handled by other people who are a bunch of incompetants. This might be closer to the truth when you see the state of the music industry in general.

I write this from the perspective of someone who works for a very disciplined (and profitable) corporation. We never handle the roll-out of a new project the way I see U2 does, not only for this album release but the last few at a minimum.

 

[onyourkneesboy]

The U2 Machinery

I've noticed this more and more over the last years: It's seems that again with the new album, the whole "U2-Company" gets more and more ignorant or naive or too massive... don't know what it is..

For example:

* They've been so strict about when and how to release the new single that even the Pentagon could takes notes there, yet the title track (in what (mixed) form whatsoever) is ahead of the actual album because they release it as a B-side on the new single! Splash! surprise about this song (opening track!) falls in the water..

* When somebody asked Bono about Mercy he was surprised that the world knows this song and that it was "out there"...

* With every tour the whole band yells that this one won't be a greatest hits tour yet on every tour there's the all the big singles.. With Or Without You, Pride, ISHFWILF, I Will Follow, etc...
I mean it gets more and more ridiculous that New Years Day is in the set every tour, every evening.. I mean: come on, New Years Day in the boiling heat in Santiago and Las Vegas! Yet they fail to perform for example Electrical Storm once.. not even when they play in Nice! (where the video was shot 5 km away)
It's seems that they're scared that they'll miss one minute of attention from the big crowd.. They're less and less considerate with the real longterm fans that have been around years and years.

* Then there's the pathetic U2.com.. The new single's out, the new album's cover/style is out, the album's only 5 weeks away.. Yet there's still the lay-out of HTDAAB! But the worst thing is: for the real fans (who put U2 on this high pedastal and, in fact, pay the the salaries of everyone at U2.com) there's hardly anything special to find. Like some real ahead inside information about what the band is up to, clips that make sense WITH music, etc.. They're always 344 steps behind with the rest of the U2-sites, and don't seem to know what news is already floating around!

* But the main reason I started this thread is the thing with the new album cover: 2 bands artist already used this picture or a similar one... For me it's proof the The U2 Machine got to big, is out of the bands hand, takes th easy way out, and lives a life of it's own. Here are the examples:

U2 ALBUM COVER…HAVE I SEEN THIS BEFORE?? � 12k

&

Patent similarities: U2 & Brothomstates album covers | globulog, a blog on design and creativity by Globulart

And here's the excuse from U2's design team:

U2.com | Official News

My point is: more and more with the passing of the years I have the feeling that U2 are on that top of the mountain and don't know what's going on down below anymore where the mortals live and the real U2-fans...

O yeah, of course I have to state (again) that this is not a bashing thread and that I am also very pumped up and heavily curious about the new album too! But those other feelings have been around for a while also.. they coexist.

 

[santiago]

The way I see it, as a fan, my problem is whether the music is up to scratch.
(So far I like GOYB, let's see how the album is).

The organisation is just probably trying to make commercial sense of the mad deadlines dictated by the artistic process and the touring schedule.

The success of the album will mostly be due to the publicity campaign (once it gets rolling it will be a huge machine) and the actual quality plus some random factors to do with the public's taste. I think this kind of "disorganisation" will just affect the U2 profit margins rather than anything else - not much to worry about, really.

I don't know why people get so exercised about this, we should perhaps leave the profit maximising of the U2 corporation to Paul McGuiness and the band - it's their money, not ours.

 

[rileybug]

well, yeah, it is nitpicking, but you can't deny that the way they are handling this album, or that their "people" are handling it... is really odd. I think the band members don't have the time to get into these details, they are way too busy with their lives, so they leave it up to people they trust and those people just aren't doing that great or thorough of a job. Like U2.com is run by Adam's brother... they trust him, but he's not that great at his job. U2.com could be so much better. But are they going to fire Adam's brother? Nope.

 

[shaun vox]

 

[Aardvark747]

For example:





* With every tour the whole band yells that this one won't be a greatest hits tour yet on every tour there's the all the big singles.. With Or Without You, Pride, ISHFWILF, I Will Follow, etc...
I mean it gets more and more ridiculous that New Years Day is in the set every tour, every evening.. I mean: come on, New Years Day in the boiling heat in Santiago and Las Vegas!

So many times people have said this on here, but what the hell - im bored so ill say it again - What would you think as an average fan going to 1 gig of the tour, to come away not hearing them play any of those songs you listed? Granted you can find artists that sometimes go on tour with a new album and play nothing BUT that new album, but we know that u2 aren't one of them. They have too many fans to try and please.

 

[Aardvark747]

As for NYD being played in Vegas or Santiago...I shouldnt think the boys choose their setlist the night before with Edge checking the local weather forecast at the same time.

 

[MikeyJB]

At every gig I've ever been of any large band - Oasis, Stereophonics, Radiohead, Manic Street Preachers, The Verve, Red Hot Chili Peppers and so on - they all play the majority of their big singles/well-known songs. This isn't just a lazy U2 thing - its excepted by all bands that if people pay 40-50pounds or however much, they want to hear those staple songs. Just because the hardcore fans may be bored of them, means nothing - if you don't want to hear those songs then don't go. I'm anticipating my first U2 gigs this summer and whilst I'll be ecstatic with anything they play - I might be a tad disappointed if they didnt play WOWY, NYD, Streets, SBS etc

 

[Aardvark747]

^

 

[chrissybaby]

I agree with the original poster, surely to God they asked the artist or representative about the image for the album cover.

With regard to the iTunes thing, I think we are still in a transition of how artists handle singles. It is almost a defunct product now. IMO the single should be released on radio and download simultaneously. Let's face it, many of those in the UK that heard it first thing Monday would have gone to iTunes and purchased it. I couldn't, so I got it illegally. Just like I did with the Fly in 1991, except I taped that off the radio. Also, the concept of staggered releases around the globe is now also meaningless with the advent of the Web. The film industry woke up to this about 5 years ago, the music industry is still in a slumber apparently. McGuinness spoke of "new and innovative ways to release music...", is this really that Paul?

The whole iTunes exclusive track stuff really really gets on my nerves, but we went through all this with The Complete U2, they (along with many other bands) are in bed with Apple, we have to live with that. They would rather you buy the product digitally, the returns must be so much better... Bono spoke in Q magazine recently about how digital downloads within iTunes should be moving toward a multimedia extravaganza and that the band would like to head that movement up, because "even working class people have big TV's, apparently...". Have you seen the cover to Boots in iTunes!!! Possibly the worst thing my eyes have ever seen. And I only have it because after I'd downloaded the song illegally I went looking for a jpg of the cover so I could import it neatly into my iTunes library. For 79p I'd have saved myself the hassle...
And with regard to the multi-media thing, yes, I know about the Corbijn DVD, Depeche Mode did a very similar thing with Anton for Violator in 1990...

Oh, and the website is a joke, a total joke. There are no excuses... It's whole membership idea is out of kilter with the rest of the online community, it's hard to navigate, it's out of date, it has very little exclusivity value and it's showing no sign of getting any better...

I love the new song/single by the way. It's great and I have extremely high hopes for the album. Thank Christ for the music!

 

[MikeyJB]

^ THink of the uproar if there is no pre-sale as well lol.

 

[bono_man]

to save me the time of trolling through pages and pages of bullshit, what is all this about the cover art being similar to another?