Will No Line On The Horizon Outsell Viva La Vida?

[believer75]

If by quiet confidence you mean sitting around on their butts while NLOTH slips further and further down the charts...then yes. Albums don't sell themselves these days...

NLOTH is selling itself these days.....it's the biggest seller of the year, right?

And they did promote the album...heavily at the beginning. How much promotion do you remember for The Fly? Numb? Discotheque? I don't remember them being on Letterman, Good Morning America, playing off the rooftops somewhere for those albums. They did not start really promoting their singles until All That and Bomb..okay, I do remember KMART, sorry, but even then it was a b-side to promote the tour.

I don't doubt the legs of any U2 album. Especially when they are a forever band and their albums will be played until the end of our world. U2, Beatles, Stones, Elvis, Dylan, Cash, will always sell. So do I think it will eventually sell more copies that VLV? There is a chance and probably it will. Just depends on when you want to end that race.

 

[mikal]

i do think it says something about U2's power, considering that this is even being discussed.

if you step back and think about it, Coldplay is in the prime of their career and most likely at their peak, while U2 is, and i hate to say it, in the early stages of winding down an amazing career. the fact that at this point in their career, they're even in the same discussion as Coldplay, says a lot (and i'm not referring to quality of music, just music sales and popularity).

 

[believer75]

i do think it says something about U2's power, considering that this is even being discussed.

if you step back and think about it, Coldplay is in the prime of their career and most likely at their peak, while U2 is, and i hate to say it, in the early stages of winding down an amazing career. the fact that at this point in their career, they're even in the same discussion as Coldplay, says a lot (and i'm not referring to quality of music, just music sales and popularity).

great point

 

[U2girl]

NLOTH outselling Viva la vida ?

No way.

 

[Cactus Annie]

So are you saying that Chris Martin is a better vocalist than Bono??
My goodness ...

According to random poster on @U2.com he is. He says that there are quite a few better singers than Bono. Edge, Thom York, MattBallemy, Jon Bon Jovi, Gary Lightbody (Snow Patrol), Michael Stipe, Chris Cornell, Eddie Vedder and Dave Grohl who is more versitile than Bono.

I think the band wasn't expecting to sell as much as Bomb and this was reflected in its slightly higher pricing strategy. For HTDAAB you could pay £20 and get a bonus track, a book and a DVD. With NLOTH I'd paid £16 yet all you get is a crappy "poster" that was glued to the case, a bigger CD case and a CD that you had to have access to the internet to watch, so it wasn't even a DVD you could watch at home. Besides from Boots there's no really obvious singles. It reminds me of the tactic they pull with jazz albums. They like to market it towards a more niche higher market therefore they they set the album at higher price.

 

[mikal]

According to random poster on @U2.com he is. He says that there are quite a few better singers than Bono. Edge, Thom York, MattBallemy, Jon Bon Jovi, Gary Lightbody (Snow Patrol), Michael Stipe, Chris Cornell, Eddie Vedder and Dave Grohl who is more versitile than Bono.

Random @U2 poster = fail

 

[BVS]

According to random poster on @U2.com he is. He says that there are quite a few better singers than Bono. Edge, Thom York, MattBallemy, Jon Bon Jovi, Gary Lightbody (Snow Patrol), Michael Stipe, Chris Cornell, Eddie Vedder and Dave Grohl who is more versitile than Bono.

Oh yeah well there was a random poster on a non-u2 related google group that has a best friend who's grandmother thinks Bono is better than Pavarotti.

It must be true.

I think the band wasn't expecting to sell as much as Bomb and this was reflected in its slightly higher pricing strategy. For HTDAAB you could pay £20 and get a bonus track, a book and a DVD. With NLOTH I'd paid £16 yet all you get is a crappy "poster" that was glued to the case, a bigger CD case and a CD that you had to have access to the internet to watch, so it wasn't even a DVD you could watch at home.

Anyone else confused by this

 

[BEAL]

We are all confused. Person just trying to start some little fires.

U2 have sold very well considering there's been little to no promotion. Yes, they had Letterman, and the Grammies....but no commercials, and way less shows (SNL, Conan, Leno, etc).

Just wish they'd push a little harder on single promotions.

 

[fedeu2]

According to random poster on @U2.com he is. He says that there are quite a few better singers than Bono. Edge, Thom York, MattBallemy, Jon Bon Jovi, Gary Lightbody (Snow Patrol), Michael Stipe, Chris Cornell, Eddie Vedder and Dave Grohl who is more versitile than Bono.

Who? A random poster on @U2.com? Right.
To say that Dave Grohl is a better singer than Bono is one of the stupidest things I´ve ever heard. As for Bon Jovi, well, I´d better keep my mouth shut.

 

[MadForIt]

Thom Yorke = mr whine whine WTF is he saying
Matt Bellamy = Mr whine whine impersonator
Jon Bon Jovi = Shiny turd, who even if he could sing it wouldn't matter as what comes out of his mouth would be total garbage
Gary Lightbody = Ah, yes, the guy who sing/talks and looks like he is having a stroke while at it
Michael Stipe = I can sing properly unless my face is painted blue. But to be fair he is a good singer and has some good tunes to back him up
Chris Cornell = Classic rock voice, but he can only sing ONE type of song. If he tries anything else his voice butchers it
Eddie Vedder - see above
Dave Grohl = Mr shoutsing - quality voice but he seems to do a lot of shouting

Therefore Bono wins as he can do a bit of everything at a high standard. The rendition of Miss Sarajevo in Milan left me speechless. Nearly cried.

 

[Cactus Annie]

Why does eveyone pretend they don't understand what I'm saying. I don't understand some of the things that you say but this was very clear.

New Jazz albums are priced slightly higher than most other albums. Plus they don't have a high rate of retail distribution as other albums. You couldn't buy Diana Krall in the Supermarket, Smiths or even the smaller record stores. You'd have to buy Diana's new album in a big store in a city. I couldn't get her new album here.

NLOTH is widely available but is more expensive than the other new albums. For the basic album (ie: without the CD with the Anton Corbjin film, the bigger case, poster), you had to pay £14 in WHSmiths for it compaired to the Starsailer album that was out on the same week that was priced at £12. Now it's price is equal with other charted albums.

The promotion for it was less heavy than the previous albums. Jazz albums don't promote their albums heavely because it will be waste of money. They are aiming for a niche market. NLOTH is a niche album

 

[BVS]

Why does eveyone pretend they don't understand what I'm saying. I don't understand some of the things that you say but this was very clear.

It wasn't clear.

First of all in your own description you admit to paying more for Bomb than you did with NLOTH.

Secondly, here in the states the basic CD is priced the same if not less than every other CD. And then depending on which deluxe package you got they were priced about the same as most other deluxe packaging these days. Bands have very little control over price, they may have a little more control over deluxe versions than they do the regular CD, but still a very small amount of control. So your theory that the pricing is different due to them knowing they wouldn't sell as much is false. They knew they wouldn't sell as much purely because it's 2009 and CDs don't sell like they use to...

 

[fairy]

According to random poster on @U2.com he is. He says that there are quite a few better singers than Bono. Edge, Thom York, MattBallemy, Jon Bon Jovi, Gary Lightbody (Snow Patrol), Michael Stipe, Chris Cornell, Eddie Vedder and Dave Grohl who is more versitile than Bono.

I think the band wasn't expecting to sell as much as Bomb and this was reflected in its slightly higher pricing strategy. For HTDAAB you could pay £20 and get a bonus track, a book and a DVD. With NLOTH I'd paid £16 yet all you get is a crappy "poster" that was glued to the case, a bigger CD case and a CD that you had to have access to the internet to watch, so it wasn't even a DVD you could watch at home. Besides from Boots there's no really obvious singles. It reminds me of the tactic they pull with jazz albums. They like to market it towards a more niche higher market therefore they they set the album at higher price.

That guy's comment is just ridiculous.

Best singer?. Freddie Mercury, of course, and some others.