Rhetorical question: How can U2.com possibly compete with youtube.com?

[Knuckle]

I know that youtube.com has been the subject of many threads, but I have a question. That is, I just finished watching yet another awesomely rare U2 tidbit on YouTube. (This time it was a live performance of Streets from Madison Sqaure Garden in New York on 9/28/87 - Joshua Tree tour. If you want to see it go to youtube.com and search "Where the Streets Have No Name". It should come up on the first page of entries. I'd link to it here, but I haven't figured that out yet.)

Anyway, in the last few weeks I've seen so much rare U2 stuff on youtube (that I didn't even know existed). It can only get better and better as more people put stuff up on the site.

So how can U2.com possibly compete with this? U2.com offers a number of videos, etc., but nothing like this. Absent (e'hem) "priority concert ticketing" I don't know what U2.com has to offer for a $40 subscription that fans can't easily find elsewhere. I'm not trying to beat up on U2.com for the sake of it. I want U2.com to work, and I'm happy to pay for everything I've gotten from U2 over the years. The U2 organization deserves to be paid for the body of work they've created. I'm just wondering where U2.com goes from here.

I hope youtube.com can survive as is for a while. It's the first web site to come along in a long time that reminds me of just how great the internet can be.

 

[xaviMF22]

how can anything compete with youtube

 

[LMP]

how can anything compete with youtube

nothing really, it's cool to see NBC be smart and progressive and try and strike a deal with YouTube.

 

[Screwtape2]

With so much video and music out there, the U2.com membership doesn't seem worth it.

 

[thrillme]

Em, a rhetorical question is one that isn't answered, but I'm gonna answer anyhow.


Before the U2.com bashing begins, I'd just like to say I get what I wanted out of the site. Aside from the tickets, which I actually did get when the Propaganda members' codes were reset, I've gotten what I would expect from an official online fan club.

Video clips, rarely seen concert videos, interviews, nicely categorized message board.

There should be something to offer that unofficial websites and forums don't have, and U2.com has that.

There are video clips I've seen streamed on U2.com, that youtube doesn't have.

Most of U2's music videos are on the site.

Not on the site itself, but one of the moderators on U2.com streams video clips, in the forum, they stay up for a few days then they're gone. Something new at least every 2-3 weeks.

Interview clips, unedited Red Rocks concert there, (broken up into different segments).
"Wire" from Meadowlands, UF tour.
Some festival from 1983, (again broken up into segments).
Outside It's America documentary
Clips from Lovetown tour.

Definitely stuff only U2 or those close to U2 would have easy access to to post on the internet.

Where does youtube gets their videos? U2 fans who have access to them. Whose gonna have more U2 video content than U2 fans?

U2.

If any of you are paid subscribers, you have to check out the video section to see these clips that are streamed, though sometimes these video clips get posted in the individual band members' sub-forums too.

Plus I've also made buddies with some of the members, some I've met in real life, had a great time hanging out so for me, it wasn't money wasted.

$32, not bad, heck, $32 won't even fill up the tank in my car.

 

[Screwtape2]

Interview clips, unedited Red Rocks concert there, (broken up into different segments).
"Wire" from Meadowlands, UF tour.
Some festival from 1983, (again broken up into segments).
Outside It's America documentary
Clips from Lovetown tour.

Definitely stuff only U2 or those close to U2 would have easy access to to post on the internet.

I hate to burst your bubble thrillme...but on youtube.com you can see four of the five things you've listed. There is video of the missing Red Rock tracks. Video of parts of an outdoor festival from 1983. The Outside It's America documentary. And there are a couple videos from the Lovetown tour. Plus alot more stuff that I'm guessing isn't on u2.com...sorry.

 

[thrillme]

I hate to burst your bubble thrillme...but on youtube.com you can see four of the five things you've listed. There is video of the missing Red Rock tracks. Video of parts of an outdoor festival from 1983. The Outside It's America documentary. And there are a couple videos from the Lovetown tour. Plus alot more stuff that I'm guessing isn't on u2.com...sorry.

I saw those on U2.com first.

I like youtube, but with all the attention it's getting, I wonder what the future holds for it. Remember Napster? U2 can post and stream U2 videos all they want, they own them, but say a performance on tv show, like say the Simpson's episode?

It was removed from youtube. Fox had it taken down.

U2's performance on Saturday Night Live, taken down.

I'm still looking for things U2.com streamed that I haven't found on youtube.

 

[Knuckle]

I won't do a line by line response to your (thrillme) above post, but suffice it to say that I respectfully disagree. If you roam around youtube.com and search various key U2 words you will find some amazing stuff.

To the point, U2.com has never "wowed" me like youtube.com does on an almost daily basis. Plus, these rare gems are not spoon fed in small doses. It's a warehouse of amazing stuff just waiting to be discovered. Maybe the unofficial nature of it makes it even jucier, but I don't think you can deny that there is no comparison to the amount and quality of the material available.

Another example: Recently searched "U2 Sydney" on youtube.com and found an outstanding performance of Desire from the Lovetown Tour. Never saw anything like it in 15+ years and I doubt you'll ever see anything like it on U2.com.

Again, this isn't an effort to bash U2.com. As I said, I want it to work well and I'll happily continue paying for it. However, youtube.com would seem to present a major problem for U2.com for the reasons stated above.

Otherwise, thanks for the tutorial on the definition of a rhetorical question. I didn't answer my own rhetorical question in the original post, but I will now. I don't think U2.com can compete with youtube.com. I think U2 will either have to dispatch their legal team to enforce their copyrighted material or suffer a hit in their pocketbook.

 

[thrillme]

I won't do a line by line response to your (thrillme) above post, but suffice it to say that I respectfully disagree. If you roam around youtube.com and search various key U2 words you will find some amazing stuff.

To the point, U2.com has never "wowed" me like youtube.com does on an almost daily basis. Plus, these rare gems are not spoon fed in small doses. It's a warehouse of amazing stuff just waiting to be discovered. Maybe the unofficial nature of it makes it even jucier, but I don't think you can deny that there is no comparison to the amount and quality of the material available.

Another example: Recently searched "U2 Sydney" on youtube.com and found an outstanding performance of Desire from the Lovetown Tour. Never saw anything like it in 15+ years and I doubt you'll ever see anything like it on U2.com.

I did see it on U2.com. It was streamed though. It's gone now though.

I think U2 will take the stance they do on bootlegs, as long as youtube isn't making money off them, they'll turn a blind eye to it.

 

[thrillme]

I've also seen some horrible U2 covers on youtube

Some downright bizarre stuff, things I'm sure U2.com doesn't want to compete with. Saw this video on how to put a band-aid on so it stays on.

I was gonna ask what a subscription to interference gets you, but you're not a paid subscriber here Knuckle.

 

[Canadiens1131]

how can anything compete with youtube

They have no model to monetize their traffic, and will burst within a year, IMO.

Either that or be bought out by a company like Yahoo or such who will take the loss month after month. They pay 1+ Million a month to handle all that bandwidth!

 

[phillyfan26]

I saw those on U2.com first.

I like youtube, but with all the attention it's getting, I wonder what the future holds for it. Remember Napster? U2 can post and stream U2 videos all they want, they own them, but say a performance on tv show, like say the Simpson's episode?

It was removed from youtube. Fox had it taken down.

U2's performance on Saturday Night Live, taken down.

I'm still looking for things U2.com streamed that I haven't found on youtube.

I actually wouldn't be shocked if U2 requested to have all their stuff taken down.

 

[BVS]

Youtube.com didn't help get me tickets last year so I was pretty happy with my subscription...

 

[thrillme]

I actually wouldn't be shocked if U2 requested to have all their stuff taken down.

They've turned a blind eye to bootlegs, were supportive of Napster, I would be a little suprised if they had a problem with youtube.

U2 allegedly have virtually every concert they've done, recorded in some way or another, be it audio or visual.

I read from, can't remember his name now, Chris Stewart maybe, who hinted something along the lines of opening the vault of unreleased U2 stuff. oh:

 

[david]

that 1983 festival is the Us festival i believe. maybe?

i don't know, but according to homer simpson: "There can only be one truly great festival a lifetime and it's the Us festival"

 

[thrillme]

that 1983 festival is the Us festival i believe. maybe?

i don't know, but according to homer simpson: "There can only be one truly great festival a lifetime and it's the Us festival"

Nah, it actually wasn't the US festival, though the US festival was streamed, but there was another festival from 1983, wanna say somewhere in Holland or Germany?

 

[Screwtape2]

I think U2 will let Youtube.com keep thier material. The great thing about youtube is that you can't that music for yourself. Does it really cost the Fox's and NBC's money? If so tell me.
Plus, some of us are cheap and don't have the money to throw at U2.com. If anyone says $30 is cheat, understand that some people are *really cheat*.
Of course, I have to support a site that featured Lemon in Adelaide. Adam's bass playing was

 

[DreamOutLoud13]

My YouTube account got closed a few days ago for copyright infringement. The only thing (besides a couple of my own videos) I had on it were U2 videos.

This is the email I recieved just before they closed it:

Dear Member:

This is to notify you that we have removed or disabled access to the following material as a result of a third-party notification by the RIAA claiming that this material is infringing:

U2 All I Want Is You: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJzDU5KYx5U

Please Note: Repeat incidents of copyright infringement will result in the deletion of your account and all videos uploaded to that account. In order to avoid future strikes against your account, please delete any videos to which you do not own the rights, and refrain from uploading additional videos that infringe on the copyrights of others. For more information about YouTube's copyright policy, please read the Copyright Tips guide.

If you elect to send us a counter notice, to be effective it must be a written communication provided to our designated agent that includes substantially the following (please consult your legal counsel or see 17 U.S.C. Section 512(g)(3) to confirm these requirements):

(A) A physical or electronic signature of the subscriber.

(B) Identification of the material that has been removed or to which access has been disabled and the location at which the material appeared before it was removed or access to it was disabled.

(C) A statement under penalty of perjury that the subscriber has a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification of the material to be removed or disabled.

(D) The subscriber's name, address, and telephone number, and a statement that the subscriber consents to the jurisdiction of Federal District Court for the judicial district in which the address is located, or if the subscriberis address is outside of the United States, for any judicial district in which the service provider may be found, and that the subscriber will accept service of process from the person who provided notification under subsection (c)(1)(C) or an agent of such person.

Such written notice should be sent to our designated agent as follows:

DMCA Complaints
YouTube, Inc.
PO Box 2053
San Mateo, CA 94401
Email: copyright@youtube.com

Please note that under Section 512(f) of the Copyright Act, any person who knowingly materially misrepresents that material or activity was removed or disabled by mistake or misidentification may be subject to liability.

Sincerely,
YouTube, Inc.

After recieving the email, I went to check my account, only to find that it had been completely deleted.

I love YouTube, but I fear it won't be long before most of the copyrighted material gets removed.

 

[The Searcher]

The way I see it, U2.com is being stubborn, and delaying clips from being released. Or if you see clips, they're merely 35 seconds long...

Youtube has shown me things that I probably wouldn't have ever seen had it not been for Youtube. Songs like Ultraviolet, Woman Fish, Vintage 80s footage of the Joshua Tree, Lovetown...

 

[tuwie]

i think i read somewhere recently that video.google.com bought the rights to show a certain video clip that was shown on TV (i believe it had something to do with Steve Carrell, but I could be wrong), and youtube didn't get to show it because it was "Copyright infringement". i hope this doesn't turn out to be some commercial battle for greedy moneygrabbers =(


sorry to be a little off topic, but in the sept 28, 1987 Where the Streets Have No Name clip from Madison Square Garden....how did Bono hurt his hand?

 

[The Searcher]

i think i read somewhere recently that video.google.com bought the rights to show a certain video clip that was shown on TV (i believe it had something to do with Steve Carrell, but I could be wrong), and youtube didn't get to show it because it was "Copyright infringement". i hope this doesn't turn out to be some commercial battle for greedy moneygrabbers =(


sorry to be a little off topic, but in the sept 28, 1987 Where the Streets Have No Name clip from Madison Square Garden....how did Bono hurt his hand?

He slipped on a wet portion of the stage during Exit.

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

 

[phillyfan26]

My YouTube account got closed a few days ago for copyright infringement. The only thing (besides a couple of my own videos) I had on it were U2 videos.

This is the email I recieved just before they closed it:



After recieving the email, I went to check my account, only to find that it had been completely deleted.

I love YouTube, but I fear it won't be long before most of the copyrighted material gets removed.

Were you "sapphires13"? If you were, I listened to The Fly - Sydney of yours almost daily, and now it's gone. (I don't have the Sydney VHS, I'm waiting on the DVD)

 

[DreamOutLoud13]

Were you "sapphires13"? If you were, I listened to The Fly - Sydney of yours almost daily, and now it's gone. (I don't have the Sydney VHS, I'm waiting on the DVD)

I was indeed. Give me your email address, and I can send you the video
I'd hate for you to deprived of your Sydney Fly.