prbiker15
Blue Crack Addict
Same here.
Songs of Innocence downloaded 26 million times, 81 million 'experienced' songs
- Thread starter RoKKeR
- Start date
The friendliest place on the web for anyone that follows U2.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
roy
Refugee
Just because I loved it so much, I going to paste Earnie Shavers great idea for the release here again.
IMO, it would have been so cool seeing Twitter, etc. take off with people saying things like "iTunes f*cked up and put the new U2 record on there for free...quick download it before they take it down!" , etc. Some people would have recognised it as marketing, sure...but the social media conversation about the release would have been totally different. No one complaining about forced downloads etc...just a lot of "WOW, what's going on!" type of convo. It would have been fun...how many people would download it just to check it out and be part of the fun...rather than having something dumped on them?
Not that I'm complaining about what they did, all these guys at Apple are smarter at marketing than I am, to be sure, and I was happy to get the record for free. I just think they could have avoided the whole "Here's U2 being obnoxious trying to be the biggest band in the world again" meme and reset the narrative on the band by going a different direction.
U2 ain't stupid. Earnie's idea sounds like the biggest damp suib ever.
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lazarus
Blue Crack Supplier
A lot of the controversy could have been alleviated during the Apple demo, if they had given The Edge a line saying something to Bono & Tim Cook like "Hey guys, what about people who don't like us and don't want the album?"
And then Bono could have responsed with his "blood sweat and tears of four Irish guys in your junk mail" line that was on the official site that day and was obviously written already. That way, their pre-emptive defense is part of the original story.
And then Bono could have responsed with his "blood sweat and tears of four Irish guys in your junk mail" line that was on the official site that day and was obviously written already. That way, their pre-emptive defense is part of the original story.
Nick66
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
Charming.
Yeah. Except the Earnie idea gives them virtually zero hype, and there would be complaints about getting spammed anyway. Plenty of people would doubt it's the real thing if U2/Apple say nothing at all (bizzaro idea...after 5 years, let's put out our new single but SHUT UP about it).
Nick66
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
How could people complain about being spammed when the record isn't being put in their library?
Anyway, I like Earnie's idea and have a right to say so without getting ganged up on about it.
roy
Refugee
Seriously, why charming? Was it because of the typo?
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ClaytonsKitten
ONE love, blood, life
Same. Other than sentimental favorites, we sold off our cds years ago. (That said, the boy is a sucker for physical cds and loves combing through the used stacks at FYE. Ah, youth.)
MrCK and I are in the process of obtaining each U2 release on all formats it was released on. (Vinyl, cassette, cd, VHS, DVD, etc). And half the fun of it for us is searching through used record shops and garage sale piles. Buying it all on ebay feels like cheating lol.
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womanfish
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
I'm curious as to how many U2 fans did not purchase the album... since Apple had already footed the bill, I sure didn't
Evidently around half a million or so. LOL
I mean, I know about 5 fans personally that will in no way go out and buy it or download it now that they already have it.
In fact I don't know anyone but me who will buy it. Oh, and you guys.
Nick66
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
I think I read that the 25K or so people who have already bought it weren't even U2 fans, they just liked the cover.
corianderstem
Blue Crack Distributor
Speaking of which, is it safe to declare now that the cover turned out to be a total non-issue?
Nick66
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
I think so. Like many debates about U2, it happened solely in U2 fandom and most of the rest of the world wasn't even aware.
Of course, the whole CD release turned out to be a non-issue b/c no one's buying it, so there's that.
Of course, the whole CD release turned out to be a non-issue b/c no one's buying it, so there's that.
womanfish
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
purpleblackeye
War Child
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2004
- Messages
- 742
Only diehard fans and crazies like us would buy the album after the free ITunes release. Why is there such a surprise about very low sales? How much of a market share does ITunes have for online music sales? I would think they would be number one given the number of subscribers.
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Sent from my iPhone using U2 Interference
gvox
Ghost of Love
On the surface Earnies idea seems cool, but it's just for perception only.
We're past perception now, we're talking about album sales which in this day and age of everything leaking ahead of time is driven by how good the public perceives the music to be...because they've already heard it.
The reality is, very few, if even anyone, is deciding not to buy the physical copy because they hate the spammy release method. They're not buying the album..because they already have it. There may be further reasons like, oh, they just don't think it's worth buying but was ok to get free etc etc on and on..
..but realistically the hardcore complainers were never buying this album to begin with.
And allowing people to choose whether or not to download for free wouldn't change whether or not they choose to buy the physical copy.
The cold hard fact is the music is out there and for the people who rely on digital mediums for their music, it's as out there as they need it to be.
So yes, would the chatter bs and convo be different had they leaked it a la Ernies idea? Of course. But The theory that more people would have bought the physical copy if only they had released it in a different free method a month ago is relying on some flawed logic imo
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Nick66
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
I don't think anyone is saying Earnie's idea would result in more CD sales (I certainly never said that), simply that the conversation about the record would have been different (i.e. not negative) if they'd done it that way rather than dropping it in people's libraries uninvited.
Just that I think implying that his idea is stupid is a little harsh. I believe it's a pretty good idea.
I don't care about the typo. I'm the king of tipos.
Just that I think implying that his idea is stupid is a little harsh. I believe it's a pretty good idea.
I don't care about the typo. I'm the king of tipos.
womanfish
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
Nope. Friday release in Europe/Australia and traditional Tuesday release for the U.S. It will be a full week counted.
jon_lemire
Acrobat
On the backlash:
I like the idea above to have Edge or whomever say, "hey, what about those who don't want it?" as way to head this off. Another option: if it was simply set up as "Hey, this album is free, click here to get it" instead of "Hey, you already have this in your library," people likely wouldn't have gotten offended.
It's a great album that U2 fans will enjoy. And I also have no doubt that there is a silent majority (26 million is a great number) who also were happy to receive it. But it's the loud Twitter complainers who have shaped the narrative. And I fear that SOI's destiny in pop culture history is to be remembered solely for the release/backlash. Hope I'm wrong. A hit single (or truly inspired tour) could help change that.
I like the idea above to have Edge or whomever say, "hey, what about those who don't want it?" as way to head this off. Another option: if it was simply set up as "Hey, this album is free, click here to get it" instead of "Hey, you already have this in your library," people likely wouldn't have gotten offended.
It's a great album that U2 fans will enjoy. And I also have no doubt that there is a silent majority (26 million is a great number) who also were happy to receive it. But it's the loud Twitter complainers who have shaped the narrative. And I fear that SOI's destiny in pop culture history is to be remembered solely for the release/backlash. Hope I'm wrong. A hit single (or truly inspired tour) could help change that.
super fly guy
New Yorker
Looks like top 5 in the UK,not too bad I think?
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ImNotSleeping
Acrobat
Lest we forget, not just Bono/U2 think the charts are broken. Music is all over the place and I'm still intrigued about what will happen and how this next evolution/revelation w/ Apple and the band will play out.
david
ONE love, blood, life
Black Keys' Patrick Carney Slams U2's iTunes Giveaway | Rolling Stone
Patrick Carney from Black Keys states U2 devalued their music by releasing it this way, but then goes on to state that CEO's of streaming services are making more money than artists... So he basically sums up exactly why what U2 did was a smart business move.
Patrick Carney from Black Keys states U2 devalued their music by releasing it this way, but then goes on to state that CEO's of streaming services are making more money than artists... So he basically sums up exactly why what U2 did was a smart business move.
It went to the first million people with a Samsung phone who went to the Google Play store and downloaded the app.
I know because I regrettably had a GalaxyS4 at the time, and the app wasn't pushed to me. I went and got it. As did the other 999,999 people who downloaded the app. Nobody got it who didn't want it. You seem to be missing that.
Will be interesting to see if the GN has given this more of a push
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Super Yo
New Yorker
prbiker15
Blue Crack Addict
womanfish
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
I don't have a link, but WOW, NME just had a post on my facebook feed about SOI, and it was... wait for it... pretty positive!!
They said, that a lot of people bought SOI, even after getting it for free.
They also said that with 26 million people downloading it, that it would be around the
32nd most owned album of all time.
Interesting to put that in perspective really. The 32nd highest of all time, in one month, one copy per person.
Most albums on that list have been selling for decades, through multiple formats, with multiple copies per person.
So while they sure kicked the hornet's nest with this thing, those are pretty impressive results.
They said, that a lot of people bought SOI, even after getting it for free.
They also said that with 26 million people downloading it, that it would be around the
32nd most owned album of all time.
Interesting to put that in perspective really. The 32nd highest of all time, in one month, one copy per person.
Most albums on that list have been selling for decades, through multiple formats, with multiple copies per person.
So while they sure kicked the hornet's nest with this thing, those are pretty impressive results.
Salome
you are what you is
What is the fun of being in a rock band when you shy away from controversy?
I guess some will perceive U2 as corporate sellout whores no matter what, but I actually do enjoy they took the opportunity to piss people off.
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