What about... 2 singles?

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Aygo

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I was wondering...

Corbijn says that the video he shot was for "No Line On The Horizon", that is a title that the media already knows and that registered in the web.
On the other hand, we, fans, say that "Get On Your Boots" (Sexy Boots) is much more like a first single.

What if McGuinness and Universal are planning to release two different singles - could be these two songs - to present the album... like Coldplay (and some other artists) did?
 
I was wondering...

Corbijn says that the video he shot was for "No Line On The Horizon", that is a title that the media already knows and that registered in the web.
On the other hand, we, fans, say that "Get On Your Boots" (Sexy Boots) is much more like a first single.

What if McGuinness and Universal are planning to release two different singles - could be these two songs - to present the album... like Coldplay (and some other artists) did?

I think we should ban the words COLDPLAY and CHRIS MARTIN on this forum.

On the other hand, I believe U2 has in the past released more than one single for each album.
 
WTF... I'm not that stupid.

You didn't get me: Two first singles.
"Viva La Vida" was officially released on the next day after "Violet Hill". I'm not a fan of Coldplay (and no way I'm fan of Chris Martin), but it reminded me that they may be planning another strategy.

What about, for instance, releasing "Get On Your Boots" as a normal-physical single and "No Line On The Horizon" digitaly-only?
 
I think we should ban the words COLDPLAY and CHRIS MARTIN on this forum.

On the other hand, I believe U2 has in the past released more than one single for each album.

What?

They always release more than 1 single...he was referring to releasing 2 singles before the album release. And the Coldplay reference is perfectly relevant considering the post topic.

Edit: ah, you beat me to it Aygo.
 
WTF... I'm not that stupid.

You didn't get me: Two first singles.
"Viva La Vida" was officially released on the next day after "Violet Hill". I'm not a fan of Coldplay (and no way I'm fan of Chris Martin), but it reminded me that they may be planning another strategy.

What about, for instance, releasing "Get On Your Boots" as a normal-physical single and "No Line On The Horizon" digitaly-only?

Oops.....it's early in the morning! Forgive me! :doh:
 
source? never heard of that...

Ditto.

However, now that in this age of digital downloads the B-side is dead I can see why people might think that U2 would want to release something a little extra as well as the first single.

My guess is that if we are expecting an album around mid-November, the first single will be released late and there will be a far shorter period between the single and album. This will leave minimum room for a leak of the full album, and maximum room for hype/publicity (but also for us, speculation) between the two.

Witness Coldplay.

I bet we will hear nothing until the first single is out on the airwaves, and then a whirlwind of publicity (U2 on the cover of magazines, newspapers, possibly an ipod commercial) to keep them in the forefront of peoples' minds and allow a small amount of time for everyone to digest the new single (read: direction) before the album itself comes out.

We're about to get very busy!
 
Everyone from Radiohead to NIN to Coldplay to U2 are trying to figure out how to deal with digital downloads. To me I don't care about digital downloads and want some good physical media like CD with full lyrics. You can't have a relationship with a file.
 
I wonder if we'll get an Apple commercial, not related to iTunes but rather the iPhone.
There are rumours circulating about a Product (RED) iPhone coming up for retail in the holiday season and we know from before that (RED) is going to launch their own digital music store in September. Wouldn't that fit somewhat with U2's schedule?
However, keep in mind that these are just rumours and I don't know if it's going to be released at all. Perhaps it's been denied by Apple already, can't say for sure.

So what about a first single with the intention of supporting Product (RED)/iPhone and then another to support U2's new album or something like that.
 
U2 have released two singles at the same time - but usually for their second single (they did this for both ATYCLB and HTDAAB). One single is for the U.S. market, the other single is for Europe. As U2 no longer have actual CD singles for the U.S., it's a bit odd to have this strategy. I'm not a big fan of it either as I don't really think it has helped the album. But I don't have all the numbers in front of me, so perhaps there is a boost in the respective continents/countries with this strategy. And perhaps, just perhaps, U2 are doing it again, but this time for the first single.

That said, they may be working on having two songs ready to go (i.e., not have 4-5 months between singles). This way, they can release two big songs closer together and keep the album atop the charts for a longer period (in the 80's one could have singles released 5 months apart, but in today's "gotta have it now" world, it's not quite true unless a song is a HUGE #1 hit).
 
I wonder if their strategy is to have two songs come out at the start so instead of just having one song being played constantly in the lead up to the album they show a little variety.

I don't have the sales figures or Billboard charts but it seemed to me that Beautiful Day and Vertigo were successful but that the following singles didn't have the same success or amount of radio play.

Concerning Coldplay I think it would have worked better if they had used a song other than Violet Hill which a lot of people think is one of the weakest tracks on the album.
 
Yeah, that's it.
U2 have already done before ("If God Will Send His Angels"+"MOFO"; "Stuck In A Moment" switching territory releasement with "Walk On"; "All Because Of You" with delay - first in NA and then ROW) something similar, but not as first single.

"No Line On The Horizon" could be playing on music channels and radios to have the first effort in publicity for the album - released as a physical single, while "Get On Your Boots" could be used at the same time in the Apple commercial, and joining weeks later on the music channels, radios, etc - as a digital releasement only.

It was just a possibility I remembered of after Coldplay's game for their last album. It's not a question of copying, but this could eventually work.
 
Not a bad idea. For the last two albums, a lot has been hedging on that lead-off single. BD and Vertigo are, in my opinion, great singles, but sometimes lightning doesn't strike three times.
 
Not a bad idea. For the last two albums, a lot has been hedging on that lead-off single. BD and Vertigo are, in my opinion, great singles, but sometimes lightning doesn't strike three times.

Wanna bet? :D

Here's MY take...They'll release one song in Europe, one song in the US and switch them a month or so later. That way they can test the market with TWO songs within a short time frame and saturate the airwaves. If this album is really as good as they say it is then there will be plenty of songs that they can choose as singles. The trouble will be to appeal to the MASSES....which in the end I couldn't give two shits about but you still have to take into consideration when it comes to making money in the music biz.
 
Wanna bet? :D

Here's MY take...They'll release one song in Europe, one song in the US and switch them a month or so later. That way they can test the market with TWO songs within a short time frame and saturate the airwaves. If this album is really as good as they say it is then there will be plenty of songs that they can choose as singles. The trouble will be to appeal to the MASSES....which in the end I couldn't give two shits about but you still have to take into consideration when it comes to making money in the music biz.

Sounds good. If this is a really good ALBUM, I hate the expectations of a make-or-break single. That's gotta be nerve-wracking for the band. Not that they don't have the machinery to work in their favor of having a single tattooed on every brain on the planet...:D

My favorite campaign was AB, which is practically the stone ages. What a badass way to introduce a project to the world.
 
I just remembered now about two other examples that fill in the hypothesis I presented: Oasis and Dido.

Oasis - that consider theirselves rivals of U2 (ok, in the UK they are) - leaked "Fallind Down" on the internet but they are releasing "The Shock Of The Lightning" as official single.
Dido - that lady that sings tunes for the radiofriendly who suffer of insomnia - has done the same: released a song on internet, but she's gonna release another song as official single.

I still ask myself: is U2 going to do something similar to make the machine work and to make something different... specially in the US market (where they don't care about physical singles)?
 
Weren't there rumors of another itunes commercial? Hate to bring up Coldplay again, but they worked that pretty well in the Vertigo vein. You have one song that everybody is exposed to because apple buys a gazillion spots all over the dial. Then you have a second song that is a little more viral.

I think there may be a blowback if there is one designated U2 single-guaranteed-smasheroo rammed at the public from every angle.

I don't know. How the hell do you sell records anymore, anyway? I know U2 doesn't need the money from sales; their tour will be the big cash cow, but there is that pesky point of pride. Paul McG listing the number ones all over the world, and what-have-you.

Just a hunch, but I think U2 will be a bit more clever and subtle this time around. Five years is an eternity in the music biz.
 
Metallica has just done this as well for their album due out on September 12.

"The Day That Never Comes", the official "first single", came out last Thursday and then just last night the band put out another track "My Apocalypse" onto the net.

"The Day That Never Comes" is also more radio friendly (despite its 8 minute length) while "My Apocalypse" is much heavier and for the diehard fans.

Maybe U2 could, and should, take this approach. Release the "poppy" tune to the radio and then giving the net something weird and otherworldly (which is what we've been promised, yes?)
 
Metallica has just done this as well for their album due out on September 12.

"The Day That Never Comes", the official "first single", came out last Thursday and then just last night the band put out another track "My Apocalypse" onto the net.

"The Day That Never Comes" is also more radio friendly (despite its 8 minute length) while "My Apocalypse" is much heavier and for the diehard fans.

Maybe U2 could, and should, take this approach. Release the "poppy" tune to the radio and then giving the net something weird and otherworldly (which is what we've been promised, yes?)

I actually REALLY like that approach. We've already read in multiple interviews that a few of the songs on the new album are longer and "different" from what U2's sound generally is. So maybe they are less radio friendly and therefore perfect for internet release.
 
I just remembered now about two other examples that fill in the hypothesis I presented: Oasis and Dido.

Oasis - that consider theirselves rivals of U2 (ok, in the UK they are) - leaked "Fallind Down" on the internet but they are releasing "The Shock Of The Lightning" as official single.

:lol: If U2 is the Earth then Oasis is Antarctica, I pity Oasis, they overrate themselves, they should compare themselves to Coldplay instead, even they are better than oasis.

anyways... :reject:
 
:lol: If U2 is the Earth then Oasis is Antarctica, I pity Oasis, they overrate themselves, they should compare themselves to Coldplay instead, even they are better than oasis.

anyways... :reject:

I'm listening to the album Viva La Vida right now, and I must say that Oasis has got a long way to go with their new album before they top Coldplay's latest release. GREAT ALBUM!
 
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