World Exclusive! Bono Speaks With Alan Cross About RIM Deal

[rihannsu]

Tour sponsor. Sellout.

So, you would rather they not "sellout" than have cheap tickets? We're in a global recession and they are staging the biggest show they have in years which will be a pretty good economics stimulus package in itself and they have worked out a way for tickets to be reasonbly priced and you're bitching about them selling out? Sheesh. I hope to hell you are being sarcastic.

Dana

 

[DaHowler]

The reason U2 went with Blackberry is because Bono is a shareholder of Elevation partners. They put a big investment into RIM if I remember correctly. Kinda sad to see Bono not fess up to that.

 

[chyland]

no they invested in Palm

 

[susanita33]

blackberry / live nation connection...

Blackberry also recently sponsored the Madonna tour, another artist who has a deal with Live Nation...maybe their tie in is more with Live Nation overall than with the artists individually and THAT is how LN is able to cough up the big bucks...

 

[passanis]

So, you would rather they not "sellout" than have cheap tickets? We're in a global recession and they are staging the biggest show they have in years which will be a pretty good economics stimulus package in itself and they have worked out a way for tickets to be reasonbly priced and you're bitching about them selling out? Sheesh. I hope to hell you are being sarcastic.

Dana

Ticket prices vary by supply/demand. A tour sponsor has no impact on ticket prices.

 

[digitize]

Ticket prices vary by supply/demand. A tour sponsor has no impact on ticket prices.

No, a tour sponsor definitely has an impact on ticket prices. In this case, the band has another source of income that just wants them to sell as many tickets as possible regardless of price. Supply/demand is as dependent on ticket prices as ticket prices are of supply/demand.

 

[u2mad25]

Blackberry also recently sponsored the Madonna tour, another artist who has a deal with Live Nation...maybe their tie in is more with Live Nation overall than with the artists individually and THAT is how LN is able to cough up the big bucks...

Yep, I went to the Madonna shows and there were heavy ads for the Blackberry Bold all over the place, Blackberry booths to take pics, and drawings to win free Blackberrys. An interesting thought occurred to me now: during the show, Madonna had a little 'scripted' section where she took requests from the audience. What if, IF, U2 takes this a step further and there is a section where they ask everyone in the audience to text a song request to a number provided and the song with the most votes, they play???? That would be a first ever wouldn't it?

 

[passanis]

No, a tour sponsor definitely has an impact on ticket prices. In this case, the band has another source of income that just wants them to sell as many tickets as possible regardless of price. Supply/demand is as dependent on ticket prices as ticket prices are of supply/demand.

It's text book economics. The party charged with establishing ticket prices will structure prices to maximize profit. Since there is no real marginal cost to sell one more ticket, they will set prices as high as possible while still filling the venue. They may do a poor job of establishing ticket prices but they will try to maximize profit. Blackberry paying U2 $X doesn't change the equation at all.

Anyone who claims that having Blackberry sponsor the tour will keep prices low is full of shit. They could price tickets at $10 and scalpers will acquire the tickets and sell them at market value and take the profit for themselves.

 

[Reead]

Yep, I went to the Madonna shows and there were heavy ads for the Blackberry Bold all over the place, Blackberry booths to take pics, and drawings to win free Blackberrys. An interesting thought occurred to me now: during the show, Madonna had a little 'scripted' section where she took requests from the audience. What if, IF, U2 takes this a step further and there is a section where they ask everyone in the audience to text a song request to a number provided and the song with the most votes, they play???? That would be a first ever wouldn't it?

They could only do that provided that there is a specific selection of songs.

Gets rid of the possibility of votes for unrehearsed songs or songs planned for later in the evening.

 

[whackjester]

i hope someone breaks the 2 key on your blackberry.

Best post I've seen in quite some time.

 

[u2mad25]

They could only do that provided that there is a specific selection of songs.

Gets rid of the possibility of votes for unrehearsed songs or songs planned for later in the evening.

Not to mention misspellings and whatnot (Pryde )

I agree that it would be far too complex to just have people text a song name so something like 1 for Acrobat, 2 for So Cruel, 3 for Zooropa - hey, a fan can dream no?

 

[VintagePunk]

The RIM headquarters is literally adjacent to my school's campus. I wonder if there will be any special appearances there. Not likely, I know, but still, kinda cool to think about.

 

[buzzkill27]

Maybe Jobs dumped them after he found out Bono couldn't cure his cancer.

 

[Zoo_Fly]

The RIM headquarters is literally adjacent to my school's campus. I wonder if there will be any special appearances there. Not likely, I know, but still, kinda cool to think about.

A fellow University of Waterloo student?

Hmmm... U2@UW.. sounds good to me!

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Yep, I went to the Madonna shows and there were heavy ads for the Blackberry Bold all over the place, Blackberry booths to take pics, and drawings to win free Blackberrys. An interesting thought occurred to me now: during the show, Madonna had a little 'scripted' section where she took requests from the audience. What if, IF, U2 takes this a step further and there is a section where they ask everyone in the audience to text a song request to a number provided and the song with the most votes, they play???? That would be a first ever wouldn't it?

well... considering that RIM is the sponsor i would have to guess that if they were to do something like this they'd make it a BBM, not a text, to fuck with non blackberry owners.

also, the rolling stones did something similar to this i think 2 tours ago... they had a selection of songs online and allowed people to vote, and played the song based on the results.

 

[Scorpionac]

What about everyone getting the lyrics to Unknown Caller texted to their blackberries?

 

[VintagePunk]

A fellow University of Waterloo student?

Hmmm... U2@UW.. sounds good to me!

Yeah, I'm sort of in this grey area, I'm not officially enrolled anymore, I'm almost finished, but I've had to put some things on hold due to unforeseen circumstances, and still have some loose ends I'm working on. My daughter's there full time now, so I'm still down there all the time.


U2 at The Fed!

I love your av, btw.

 

[Zoo_Fly]

Yeah, I'm sort of in this grey area, I'm not officially enrolled anymore, I'm almost finished, but I've had to put some things on hold due to unforeseen circumstances, and still have some loose ends I'm working on. My daughter's there full time now, so I'm still down there all the time.


U2 at The Fed!

I love your av, btw.

Haha, thnx!
Talk about grey areas, I spent my first year on campus, and then after that have been doing the distance education online courses from T.O., almost done my degree tho!

Hard to believe that when I started Uni, HTDAAB had just come out, and now it's five years later already!