Elvis
Rock n' Roll Doggie Band-aid
Ahhhh those were the days hey Elvis
Yes, they were. The Internet was so wild and free back then. 'Leaks' now happen to the tune of a cool $100M or so.
Ahhhh those were the days hey Elvis
Bono said it's not free, apple paid for it.....
All artists charge a fortune for concert tickets these days. You're looking at £70 average, in my experience anyway.
U2, like many big artists, make their money on tour these days. The album basically reason to tour...I don't know that they really lose much in terms of dollars, pounds and euros releasing it "free". And it's not like it's totally "free" for them...Apple certainly paid. I will say, I thought Bono was a bit self-conscious about the whole "free" thing...like he knew it would be perceived as kind of a stunt by a band that can't sell records to the "kids" anymore. And Apple will certainly get use out of the commercial, which I presume was a big part of the reason for the deal.
I'll really be interested to hear the wholes story about how all this came together one day. Like I said in the other thread, there will be plenty of time to talk about what this all means for the future of U2 tomorrow, but for today we have new music, and to my ears it sounds pretty damn good.
Honestly in this age of accesibility with tools and tricks out there like torrenting etc, why does anyone care that it's "exclusively" available on Apple first?
There are a few different kinds of non-Apple consumers, but most fall into two categories: 1. People who just like other products better, and 2. People who are, for whatever reason, anti-Apple and actively avoid and criticize every product no matter how good. So no matter what drives you away from Apple, why make it a principled objection type thing? Why even post on an Internet forum about it?
Because, aren't you a U2 fan? It could be fucking Shreddies for all I care and I only eat Harvest Crunch, the point is, my band, the one I love and the one I want to see win and rule the day, has just won an excellent compensation package for some great music in a landscape where it has become increasingly harder and harder to do so - and they did it without (to these ears) selling out musically much at all!
AND! They did it without forcing the listener to even buy the new iPhone to get some specific streaming thingy to play the songs to hear it! Nope, just straight up dropped it out there.
So fine, you're not an Apple fanboy - great! Don't you still have the album? Aren't you ecstatic that they got paid handsomely for it?? There's no principled objection in saying "I refuse blah blah blah", its just whining imo
Sent from my ass crack
It's interesting, because the more I think about it, the more this kind of deal is really groundbreaking. And it subtly changes the relationship between the artist and their fans.
...that's if they care enough to figure out how to download it. I know a lot of people had trouble with that.This one is free, and I'm sure lots of people who wouldn't ever think twice about listening to U2 if they had to pay for it will give it a shot.
Not sure this will be positively received by musicians in less-than-superstar bands trying to make a living selling music, it also sends a message (imho) to the joe-public masses that music should be free (if I don't have to pay for U2 why should I pay for insert_artist_here) so the few that have a conscience and were paying for recorded music now have a precedent to justify not paying.
You’ll have noticed the album is free to U2.com’ers from the band. It’s also free to everyone on iTunes thanks to Apple. To celebrate the ten year anniversary of our iPod commercial, they bought it as a gift to give to all their music customers. Free, but paid for. Because if no-one's paying anything for it, we’re not sure “free” music is really that free. It usually comes at a cost to the art form and the artist… which has big implications, not for us in U2, but for future musicians and their music... all the songs that have yet to be written by the talents of the future… who need to make a living to write them.