Songs of Surrender - New album discussion - 6

[Fly-2000]

One of U2's new acoustic versions should be made especially for him: Sometimes You Can't Take It Off Your Phone.

[pacemaker]

An article that utilizes two of the (many) things that have ruined the internet - clickbait and persecution fetish.

If you haven't undertaken the easy steps to get the album out of your library 8 years after the fact, I have no sympathy. Plus, at no point does Bono scream "SLEEP LIKE A BABY TONIGHT". I hate this shit. Content aggregation has ruined journalism.

[super fly guy]

Originally Posted by Gonna Run 2 U

Even Liam Gallagher loves that song and we know how U2 love to pander to their rock star and political friends

Was it not Noel who said he liked it?

[digitize]

Originally Posted by Hollow Island

I’m still haunted by the U2 spyware on my iPhone

https://www.washingtonpost.com/magaz...are-my-iphone/

People are still writing about the itunes thing almost 8 years later.

If you use Apple Music you deserve whatever you get, even real spyware

[womanfish]

And I love this fabricated legend that these whiners have adopted repeat all the time, that every time they start itunes/apple music that this album comes on. Or him saying, he finishes a podcast and this album comes on. No. No it doesn't.
I've had itunes for 20 years, this album on my phone for 8, I have a library filled with U2. when you connect your phone with your car and turn on itunes it would play the first song in your library alphabetically (I've heard the first 5 seconds of Vampire Weekends A-Punk a thousand times. With apple music, it doesn't usually play anything or plays the last song you had it on. Absolutely after a podcast it does not.

[Headache in a Suitcase]

hey he knows the lyrics tho

[lazarus]

Originally Posted by Hollow Island

I’m still haunted by the U2 spyware on my iPhone

https://www.washingtonpost.com/magaz...are-my-iphone/

People are still writing about the itunes thing almost 8 years later.

Originally Posted by Headache in a Suitcase

It wasn't a big deal tho

"A few loud people on Twitter don't mean anything"

[Hollow Island]

Those whiners are pathetic and full of shit; U2 were dumb as fuck and that disaster is and will always be as much a part of their legacy as the Joshua Tree. Hell, for a generation it probably is (and will remain) their legacy because it was by far their most prominent encounter with the mainstream. They got what they wanted, and it's a textbook example of being careful what you wish for.

[DeVaul]

That Guy Oseary kept his job after that debacle remains something of a head-scratcher.

[LuckyNumber7]

Originally Posted by DeVaul

That Guy Oseary kept his job after that debacle remains something of a head-scratcher.

That album wasn’t going to net U2 $100 million in any other fashion.

Also, virtually all of the band’s albums went top 50 on the iTunes sales charts thereafter. Let’s not mistake the failing legacy issue with the success of the move financially. Probably (?) unprecedented for a rock band of 50 year olds.

[DeVaul]

True, and good point. Between that deal and JT30, plenty of legacy cash-in with Guy at the table. Wonder what Paul thinks

[LuckyNumber7]

If you ever want to change a non-fan’s mind over the debacle, just remind them that they too would accept $100 million.

To this day it still baffles me that Apple owns little to no fault for something they paid $100 million to make happen.

[DeVaul]

Originally Posted by LuckyNumber7

If you ever want to change a non-fan’s mind over the debacle, just remind them that they too would accept $100 million.

To this day it still baffles me that Apple owns little to no fault for something they paid $100 million to make happen.

I find it difficult to believe:
- no one at Apple brought up the automatic download possibility
- no one in the U2 camp reviewed the mechanism
- everyone in the band was so excited about a surprise album drop in the midst of product announcements from the world’s most popular tech company that they didn’t think about downsides
- someone in the U2 camp brought up possible downsides

[dan_smee]

And the solution to the PR issue was so simple:

Either have it behave like every other song/album on Apple Music and enable deletion, or

Send a notification to every phone/iTunes account saying: “a gift for you: enjoy U2’s long anticipated new album ‘Songs of Innocence’ for free. On us. No strings attached. Thanks for your support of Apple. To download the album, click below. You will also be able to download it for free for the next month from iTunes.”

[DeVaul]

Amusingly enough, I think their “relevance” would be about the same (the album was never going to light up the charts and the shows sold just fine). Two consecutive records without a mainstream hit then became three and here we are. Amazing career with similarly amazing unforced errors.

[Gonna Run 2 U]

Originally Posted by devaul

true, and good point. Between that deal and jt30, plenty of legacy cash-in with guy at the table. Wonder what paul thinks

Say what you want about Paul but he would never do that


IMG_9330.JPG

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Originally Posted by DeVaul

Amusingly enough, I think their “relevance” would be about the same (the album was never going to light up the charts and the shows sold just fine). Two consecutive records without a mainstream hit then became three and here we are. Amazing career with similarly amazing unforced errors.

Ehhhhh I don't know about that.

If your judging relevance merely by whether or not they reach the peaks of JT, Achtung Baby or the two early 2000s albums? Then yes, they'll never achieve that again.

But without the embarrassment of the iTunes release? Who knows. Depends on what would have taken its place.

It's easy to forget that just a few months earlier Invisible was downloaded from itunes 3 million times (for free).

So a) the switch from YOU MUST DOWNLOAD IT YOURSELF to WE'RE JUST PUTTING IT IN YOUR LIBRARY was clearly a conscious decision that both U2 and Apple HAD to be aware of, and b) the appetite for new U2 was still fairly sizable as early as February or that same year.

[DeVaul]

Originally Posted by Headache in a Suitcase

If your judging relevance merely by whether or not they reach the peaks of JT, Achtung Baby or the two early 2000s albums? Then yes, they'll never achieve that again.

Oh indeed. That’s what the band prob was (is?) using as a yardstick, hence my derisive quotation marks.

[david]

Yeah, the Apple thing was a big boner. Probably U2’s biggest boner. Why is Bono spying on me?

[DeVaul]

Boners, probably