Why now this sudden Corporate sponsorship?

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More than a year ago, U2 stated that they felt an I-tunes-type arrangement would be a great win-win solution for record companies losing profits to online copying AND for fans who wanted the convenience of online dowloading but were willing to pay fairly for the music. So I think U2 is trying to kill two birds with one stone: taking advantage of a great marketing deal and supporting a market-based solution to what was previously a major problem for the modern music fan and record companies.

Regarding Bono's "corporate monster" speech and relative lack of interest in accepting sponsorship for Popmart, we must also remember that one result of this stance was that America's corporate press creamed the Popmart tour far out of proportion to the tour's musical and commercial imperfections. I think U2 has learned the lesson well and would now prefer to be friends with corporate America. I don't argue that biting the hand that feeds you can be ethically correct at times, but it rarely helps the biter.

This is especially so if you plan to depend upon the corporate media to laud your legacy as one of the greatest bands in history. U2 is ambitious and wants to surpass the Beatles (regretfully impossible) and Stones (possible) as the top bands in history - they will have to be friends with those who write history.
 
ramblin rose said:
The funny thing is the people that I know have had a totally different reaction.

Today at work I had a least 6 different people (who are not fans or are casual fans) came up to me to tell me they saw the commercial. They all basically said "Wow I saw U2 in this great commercial, I didn't know they had a new song out. The new song sounds great."

(No mention of Apple or IPODS).

I was rather surprised by the whole thing.

Same here. I've had several people as well as family members tell me how cool that song is. These are people that haven't really had an interest in U2 before so, I for one, think it's a great idea. More exposure for them is always a good thing. AND if we get cheaper ticket prices because of this then Woo Hoo!
 
ChangeTheTemperature said:
Apple Computer will hold a music-centric event on Oct. 26 at the California Theatre in San Jose, Calif., according to invitations distributed to select members of the media on Monday.

"Steve Jobs, Bono and The Edge invite you to attend a special event," the invitation reads. Bono and The Edge are members of the popular rock band U2. The event is scheduled to take place at 10AM Pacific Time.

It doesn't explicitly say so, but I assume the the guys will be in attendance. Is anybody here going to be able to go to this event and report back?
 
Lisa71 said:


Same here. I've had several people as well as family members tell me how cool that song is. These are people that haven't really had an interest in U2 before so, I for one, think it's a great idea. More exposure for them is always a good thing. AND if we get cheaper ticket prices because of this then Woo Hoo!

I'm usually one of those tiresome No Label anti corporate snobs who screams bloody murder about this sort of thing but
for some reason the Ipod thing doesn't bother me.

I know I-Pod is a product but it's a music player...and U2 are a band that plays music...so...well. It just doesn't seem all that bad. And the other hand held music players suck compared to Ipod. It's a cool product and Apple is a cool company.

It just feels completely different from shilling for a car company or for McDonalds or something. I suspect that I'm not being very logical about this but I'm just not all the bothered.

I wouldn't count on cheaper ticket prices Lisa.
If Apple sponsors the tour it will allow them to save enough money to play part of the third world perhaps and to play Australia. That's the best case scenario.
Americans and Europeans will pay unspeakable prices for the shows.
I paid $56 a ticket to be either in or around the heart at 3 different ARENA shows.
Expect to pay $175 plus to sit in the bleachers at a Stadium.
Bleck. :madspit:
 
Yeah, ruin my day Mattew! :lol: It's wishful thinking on my part. I went to several shows last time and did the "Goldcircle seats" for most of them and those were EXPENSIVE! I also did GA but I'm getting to old to fight with the youngin's. LOL (Okay, I'm 32 but still....)
 
LivLuvAndBootlegMusic said:


I think they were hoping people would respond this way but seriously, the truth is they made an ipod commercial which DIRECTLY promotes Apple. If they wanted to promote their new album or single or whatever, they could've done so (we've all seen commercials for the Slane DVD, Best Of album, etc). Personally, it's rubbing me the wrong way, not b/c I don't like Apple (I love Apple) but in general, there's not really any difference between using Veritigo in an iPod ad than using Streets in a car ad. And yeah, most of the fans are saying "well they're just promoting their new song, blah blah blah..." everyday people who AREN'T obsessive about the band keep saying "so, your band sold out, how d'ya feel about that?".

Well, if it was my band (ie, the band I love the most) I would say "YES!!! They can use the money!!" :wink:

Of course, U2 doesn't need the money. But it doesn't bother me as it isn't horribly cheesy, and U2 is pretty much a corporation anyway. I might change my mind if their music began popping up in all sorts of ads though, then it would be just too much.
 
i dont really reckon its a big deal to be honest.......

U2 haven't sold out.
As long as i know that u2 has the audacity, guts and magic to produce awesome sounding songs and songs they WANTED to write and songs they want to play live, they're still one of the only 'big' artists in music history to have any integrity and value their music over the image they convey...


So what if Vertigo is on a commercial...in the 21st century everyone does it? Surely u2 by now have a licence to do whatever they want. Music Gods....
 
if eminem did this, would he be selling out? The only reason you guys are saying U2 didnt sell out is because you cant admit to yourself that they did
 
I think if we all step back and look at this objectively, U2 clearly have "sold out". U2 have been paid by a company to air commercials using thier music to promote the product. They have also agreed to use their image in producing a video to promote the product. How is this any different than Britney Spears and Pepsi or Madonna and Gap commercials. My question is why do we care? U2 makes incredible music. We get to hear that music for a price. What does it matter if U2 takes my money or Apple's money for the exact same product.
As far as tour sponsorship, look at these quotes from 2 newspaper articles from 1997-
"PopMart too has been far more difficult than previous U2 tours. Volkswagen sponsored an earlier tour, sharing some enormous bills but this time Microsoft, the favoured sponsors, declined to underwrite a similar share of the ?600,000 a week running costs." Michael Ross The Sunday Times, 8.18.97
"U2 has reportedly been guaranteed $100 million-plus for the tour from Toronto promoter Michael Cohl, who also did the Stones' last two tours." Steve Morse, Boston Globe, 04/25/97
These show that in 1997 U2 went to Microsoft for corporate sponsorship, but took a better offer from a tour promoter who guaranteed them a certain price For the Elevation tour, they went to ClearChannel for their direct payout. For U2 to now use Apple and ClearChannel and Fanfire to sponsor the tour is no different than in the past. I think we should all stop arguing about how U2 makes money and instead enjoy the fact they are back with a tremendous album and tour.
 
WHO CARES!?!?!?

Honestly people, does it matter? I personally wouldn't care if I saw U2 doing a Wal-Mart commercial tomorrow, it doesn't change the fact that they still put on an awesome show, filled with emotion, and excitement. Whoever's footing the bill is irrelevant, as long as U2 continue to be U2!
 
barrett said:
How is this any different than Britney Spears and Pepsi or Madonna and Gap commercials.


Britney is selling Pepsi
Madonna is selling jeans
U2 is selling a product that currently is the only product in the world that has legal access to THEIR own single ---huge difference
 
Hey..........at the end of the day they're just doing what it takes to get their music to the masses. The days of havin a mega hit album without heavy promotion are well and truly gone. In order for them to get this album out there they have to play these corporate owned pop trash bands at their own game. U2 is one of the few bands that can afford the money it takes to make it a level playing field................and that's what they're doing.
 
Sheesh people, it's not like Larry is half naked laying on a sealy mattress with a come hither look shilling mattresses to people.

Or Bono is doing Geico insurance commercials telling us how he saved so much on his auto insurance,

Or Edge is rock climbing and telling us how great his new eXtreme deoderant is.

Or Adam is in a trojan condom commercial.
 
starsgoblue said:



Britney is selling Pepsi
Madonna is selling jeans
U2 is selling a product that currently is the only product in the world that has legal access to THEIR own single ---huge difference

Exactly. Why people can't see this makes me worry for the future of humanity.
 
david said:
Sheesh people, it's not like Larry is half naked laying on a sealy mattress with a come hither look shilling mattresses to people.

Or Bono is doing Geico insurance commercials telling us how he saved so much on his auto insurance,

Or Edge is rock climbing and telling us how great his new eXtreme deoderant is.

Or Adam is in a trojan condom commercial.

Sign me up for those commericals!! :lol:


Really, in the end I just can't get on the "they sold out" band wagon. They have been payed to sell their own music since the days of Boy. So, this is just another way of marketing THEIR music. I don't think it's a bad thing and it doesn't bother me. If it bothers people that Apple or any other company sponser their tour then don't go. Even during the Joshue Tree tour MTV sponsered them. It's on my ticket.
 
tkramer said:


Exactly. Why people can't see this makes me worry for the future of humanity.

THIS makes you worry about the future of humanity? :lmao:


Funniest post I've read all day! Thanks!
 
Well, to add a little fuel to the fire, there's a story at Fan Meetings (in Pleba) about meeting Bono on Thursday at Starbucks Corporate Headquaters in Seattle.

Apparently he was meeting with their top executive(s). When asked why he was their he apparently said "Revolution is in the air".

Do you think we'll soon see pictures of U2 on Starbucks coffee cups? j/k
 
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