U2 and iTunes - prophecy fulfilled?

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U2utah2U

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Nov 17, 2004
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I'm sure I could post this somewhere else but most of the iTunes related threads are full of mp3 requests for the unreleased stuff from the box set.

I've been reading "At the End of the World" again after a few years since my last reading and I came upon the following in Chapter 27:

"Imagine a future in which U2 finishes making an album at the Factory, and then just walks over to the computer, puts it on-line, and waits for their fans to punch in credit-card numbers and download it into their homes. No record store, no record company, no one to grab that other 80 percent of the profit (Flannigan 235)."

I'm sure this observation has been made before and if it has I apologize. I just think that this quote shows us that U2 has been thinking about this kind of technology for over ten years. And with all of the excitement surrounding the box set I thought this would be appropriate.

I get giddy when I think about the possibilities of the future tour and iTunes.

Any other examples of how U2 has been at the forefront of technology? Discuss.

(Oops. I meant to throw this in EYKIW. Is there a kind mod still up that would like to move it. Sorry.)
 
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itunes barely breaks even

Actually I saw the breakdown on the profit for the 99 cent song download market:

the record company gets 79 cents, 10 of which go to the artist.

the record company whines that they only make about 6-10 cents profit off of that because of all their costs, most of which seem bs and repeated. For example they list overhead as a cost and then also list most of the real things in overhead as seperate items in the breakdown so I'm sceptical with that 6-10 cent figure.

They basically re-package what they already have digitial music and upload it to the servers.

apple also has to pay out 25 cents to bank of america (visa/mastercard) for every credit charge.

Everything I've heard states that itunes is basically a loss-leader for ipod sales.
 
That's why U2 still has to peddle concerts & t shirts.
That's really how they make money.

Of course with their status in the industry they were already given a guaranteed amount for their last /next 10 albums.

So this gig is really about the record companies & Apple.
From what I've read, it is true that the record companies will keep most of the 99 cents & the Apple gets the iPod $'s of which U2 gets a little bit of that too.

What is so great is that the record companies could have kept all of the 99 cents if they had developed the Napsters model into a paid service ...which Apple has refined with iTunes.

I luv it when tech gives it to the "librarians"!
 
Good points brought up here. I wasn't aware that the record company retained such a high margin. Oh well. I guess the point I was trying to make is that U2 were talking about offering a download service roughly 12 years ago. The technology just wasn't up to par for that to happen then.
 
alexvilagosh said:
Except for the 80% of the profit part. Apple probably have it all.
Steve Jobs has said that iTunes doesn't make Apple any money. iTunes is a launch pad to get people to buy an iPod (which makes Apple a lot of money - just look at Apple's current stock).
 
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