dsmith2904
ONE love, blood, life
Continuity
by Peter Lauria
Everybody who's anybody in music is doing it, a popular strain of thought goes ? Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, The Who. Even Ray Charles did it. And ever since U2's "The Joshua Tree" plunged the Irish rock quartet headlong into supergroup status, its lead singer has been accused in some quarters of doing it as well: selling out to the Establishment. That Bono, once the angry voice of the underprivileged, has now joined newly formed venture capital fund Elevation Partners as a managing director comes as no surprise to these folks. The move merely makes his unofficial sellout official, they say.
But this opinion, even though it may be held by many, is not just wrong-footed. It also exposes the narrow-minded view of what many music fans think their icons should be ? or rather, what they shouldn't be. To them there is no greater sin for a rock 'n' roller than to be adept at business. Except, perhaps, to be part of the Establishment, which is how some now view Bono. It compromises his artistic integrity, they say.
The facts argue otherwise. In its 25-year career, U2 has exhibited as much business acumen as musical ingenuity.
Early in its career the band demanded ? and received ? control of its own music catalog, a rare arrangement for even the most established artists. In 2001, U2's coincidentally named Elevation Tour in support of the album "All That You Can't Leave Behind" grossed $110 million, making it the second-best-selling tour of all time. An Irish newspaper two years ago estimated the band's combined wealth at more than $800 million.
U2's financial success is what makes Bono's appointment particularly polarizing. Some fans can't seem to reconcile his embrace of capitalism with the lyrics he sings espousing the rise of the everyman to the pinnacles now occupied by the ruling class. For example: "Now kings will rule and the poor will toil/And tear their hands as they tear the soil/But a day will come in the dawning age/When an honest man sees an honest wage," from the song "Van Diemen's Land" off the album "Rattle and Hum."
What Bono knows that some of his fans don't, however, is that his social ideals and his pro-business actions need not be mutually exclusive.
To be sure, they are intimately tied. Much has been made, for instance, of Bono's work as a social activist campaigning to combat AIDS and to get rich nations to forgive Third-World debt. His trip to Africa with former U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill on behalf of the DATA, or Debt, AIDS, Trade in Africa, effort was largely reported on and talked about in social outreach terms. Except by Bono. The singer is savvy enough to recognize that the only real way to compel politicians and businessmen to action is to frame the discussion in financial terms.
In an article on the op-ed page of The Washington Post in January 2003, Bono urged President Bush to commit at least $2.5 billion to fight AIDS in Africa. It offers "an extraordinary return on investment," wrote the 44-year-old rocker, whose real name is Paul Hewson.
When viewed through that prism, Bono's taking up with Elevation Partners seems less like an abrupt about-face than a logical extension. According to a source with knowledge of Bono's role in the $1 billion fund, his primary task will be to find companies that he believes in for his partners to invest in. These are likely to be nascent, cash-starved, obscure enterprises that straddle the divide between entertainment and technology. In other words, in addition to banging a drum for marginalized people, Bono will now be doing the same for marginalized companies.
Bono is to be Elevation's idea man, acting as a liaison between startup companies at the vanguard of entertainment and technology and those in his circle that have the means to fund them. Who better than Bono to get investors ? including deep-pocketed ones in his Rolodex such as Bill Gates, George Soros and Warren Buffett ? excited about a new, legal, paid, peer-to-peer file-sharing version of Napster?
More important, who better than Bono to give a business like that legitimacy and a chance at success by extolling its virtues to his music industry contacts? Or simply by keeping them at bay while the new technology works out a business plan?
This, of course, would be a good thing for music fans. Unfortunately, when many of them think of business, they conjure up a vision of big, bad corporations doing injustices to the little guy. And musicians who cross over are often dismissed as sellouts.
Maybe you think Bono is a sellout for joining Elevation Partners. Maybe you think he sold out long ago. Whatever. We're just glad he's doing something that's likely to be have a greater impact than hawking Victoria's Secret bras, Dylan's new sideline.
Peter Lauria covers media for The Deal.
--TheDeal.com
by Peter Lauria
Everybody who's anybody in music is doing it, a popular strain of thought goes ? Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, The Who. Even Ray Charles did it. And ever since U2's "The Joshua Tree" plunged the Irish rock quartet headlong into supergroup status, its lead singer has been accused in some quarters of doing it as well: selling out to the Establishment. That Bono, once the angry voice of the underprivileged, has now joined newly formed venture capital fund Elevation Partners as a managing director comes as no surprise to these folks. The move merely makes his unofficial sellout official, they say.
But this opinion, even though it may be held by many, is not just wrong-footed. It also exposes the narrow-minded view of what many music fans think their icons should be ? or rather, what they shouldn't be. To them there is no greater sin for a rock 'n' roller than to be adept at business. Except, perhaps, to be part of the Establishment, which is how some now view Bono. It compromises his artistic integrity, they say.
The facts argue otherwise. In its 25-year career, U2 has exhibited as much business acumen as musical ingenuity.
Early in its career the band demanded ? and received ? control of its own music catalog, a rare arrangement for even the most established artists. In 2001, U2's coincidentally named Elevation Tour in support of the album "All That You Can't Leave Behind" grossed $110 million, making it the second-best-selling tour of all time. An Irish newspaper two years ago estimated the band's combined wealth at more than $800 million.
U2's financial success is what makes Bono's appointment particularly polarizing. Some fans can't seem to reconcile his embrace of capitalism with the lyrics he sings espousing the rise of the everyman to the pinnacles now occupied by the ruling class. For example: "Now kings will rule and the poor will toil/And tear their hands as they tear the soil/But a day will come in the dawning age/When an honest man sees an honest wage," from the song "Van Diemen's Land" off the album "Rattle and Hum."
What Bono knows that some of his fans don't, however, is that his social ideals and his pro-business actions need not be mutually exclusive.
To be sure, they are intimately tied. Much has been made, for instance, of Bono's work as a social activist campaigning to combat AIDS and to get rich nations to forgive Third-World debt. His trip to Africa with former U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill on behalf of the DATA, or Debt, AIDS, Trade in Africa, effort was largely reported on and talked about in social outreach terms. Except by Bono. The singer is savvy enough to recognize that the only real way to compel politicians and businessmen to action is to frame the discussion in financial terms.
In an article on the op-ed page of The Washington Post in January 2003, Bono urged President Bush to commit at least $2.5 billion to fight AIDS in Africa. It offers "an extraordinary return on investment," wrote the 44-year-old rocker, whose real name is Paul Hewson.
When viewed through that prism, Bono's taking up with Elevation Partners seems less like an abrupt about-face than a logical extension. According to a source with knowledge of Bono's role in the $1 billion fund, his primary task will be to find companies that he believes in for his partners to invest in. These are likely to be nascent, cash-starved, obscure enterprises that straddle the divide between entertainment and technology. In other words, in addition to banging a drum for marginalized people, Bono will now be doing the same for marginalized companies.
Bono is to be Elevation's idea man, acting as a liaison between startup companies at the vanguard of entertainment and technology and those in his circle that have the means to fund them. Who better than Bono to get investors ? including deep-pocketed ones in his Rolodex such as Bill Gates, George Soros and Warren Buffett ? excited about a new, legal, paid, peer-to-peer file-sharing version of Napster?
More important, who better than Bono to give a business like that legitimacy and a chance at success by extolling its virtues to his music industry contacts? Or simply by keeping them at bay while the new technology works out a business plan?
This, of course, would be a good thing for music fans. Unfortunately, when many of them think of business, they conjure up a vision of big, bad corporations doing injustices to the little guy. And musicians who cross over are often dismissed as sellouts.
Maybe you think Bono is a sellout for joining Elevation Partners. Maybe you think he sold out long ago. Whatever. We're just glad he's doing something that's likely to be have a greater impact than hawking Victoria's Secret bras, Dylan's new sideline.
Peter Lauria covers media for The Deal.
--TheDeal.com
.
