MBH
Acrobat
The following excerpt was taken from the latest Forbes magazine. The article is about music companies and retail stores jostling over how to sell talented, popular artists, among other things.
It caught my attention b/c it mentions U2. It bothered me b/c it made accused U2 of being sellouts. It made me even more upset b/c it is very honest and practically indefensible. The entire article can be found on forbes.com or youtwo.net. This excerpt below contains the inflammatory accusation I am curious to read your recations.
This past holiday season Best Buy snared a two-week exclusive to sell U2's latest DVD,
Elevation 2001--U2 Live From Boston (at $18). As a sweetener, Best Buy also got the
rights to sell an out-of-print U2 greatest hits album. In return, Best Buy and its partners spent a reported $10 million promoting U2 on bus side advertising and in newspaper circulars, and even blasted the DVD from its in-store display televisions.
"It far exceeded our expectations," says Michael Linton, a consumer products veteran who was hired three years ago to promote the Best Buy brand. Such promotional tie-ins helped boost gross margins by two points to 22.4% for the first nine months of fiscal 2002. "We're thrilled," says Steven Berman, head of sales and marketing for Vivendi Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records, U2's label.
But not everyone is celebrating. "A fairly invidious way of gaining advantage," huffs Glen Ward, president and chief executive officer of North American operations for the Virgin Entertainment Group music stores. In retaliation for the slight, Virgin temporarily refused to carry the U2 DVD or promote any U2 album in its stores for up to five weeks.
"This is something that made everybody pretty furious," says Steve R. Wiley, co-owner of the independent Hoodlums New & Used Music in Tempe, Ariz. To fan the fires, Wiley dashed off an e-mail letter to 500 record labels and distributors that accused U2 of "one of the biggest corporate sellouts of all time."
My reaction:
1. I liked the fact that the DVD sold so well b/c it shows that the public enjoys U2 very much
2. U2 has always maintained a high priority on maintaining control of their work(which they received in the 80's) b/c they did not want their music used to sell corporations(commercials, etc...) due to the fact that it hurts the integrity of the music. Although this is not selling any product but their own, it contradicts their earlier beliefs.
3. Bono opened a concert at the World Economic Forum a few weeks back with the words, "Corporate Motherfucker's"--if these people are corporate motherfuckers and he does not like them, then why is he working with them? He and the band, seem VERY hypocritical here.
4. Some of U2's early stances against American Consumerism and Materialism are totally contradicted by these current actions.
5. The fact that Best Buy sold the item sooner than other outlets probably caused the other music companies to become angry and they may have vented their anger toward U2 instead.
6. The small, independent music store has a good point, but he does sound like sour grapes.
7. I guess you could make a case that U2 could have profited even more by selling the DVD at every store immediately at a higher price. This gave some fans the opp. to buy it at an affordable price.
8. U2 also partnered with a store called Target in the US only and has recently sold a rare disc called U27. Although it is cheap($7), this is another example of teaming up with a big corporation. They also had VH1 and MTV sponsor the Elevation tour.
I don't like that fact that U2's earnings have been glorified in the press recently. However, they only have themselves to blame. I realize that much of these financial connections are the work of Paul McGuiness. His intentions are to handle the "business" side of things. But the band members certainly have control over their music and did not have to partake in these corporate dealings if they did not want to. I hate to admit it, but it seems that U2 is heading down the path of many of their rock predesessors--we're getting old, so lets make as much as while we can.
Look, every musican who sells their record--in an independent small store or a corporate giant like Best Buy or Virgin--in some way is selling out. U2 had made it clear that they want to be the Biggest Band in the world and that requires compromise. However, U2 seem to be compromising and profiting now more than ever, which hurts their integrity somewhat.
It caught my attention b/c it mentions U2. It bothered me b/c it made accused U2 of being sellouts. It made me even more upset b/c it is very honest and practically indefensible. The entire article can be found on forbes.com or youtwo.net. This excerpt below contains the inflammatory accusation I am curious to read your recations.
This past holiday season Best Buy snared a two-week exclusive to sell U2's latest DVD,
Elevation 2001--U2 Live From Boston (at $18). As a sweetener, Best Buy also got the
rights to sell an out-of-print U2 greatest hits album. In return, Best Buy and its partners spent a reported $10 million promoting U2 on bus side advertising and in newspaper circulars, and even blasted the DVD from its in-store display televisions.
"It far exceeded our expectations," says Michael Linton, a consumer products veteran who was hired three years ago to promote the Best Buy brand. Such promotional tie-ins helped boost gross margins by two points to 22.4% for the first nine months of fiscal 2002. "We're thrilled," says Steven Berman, head of sales and marketing for Vivendi Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records, U2's label.
But not everyone is celebrating. "A fairly invidious way of gaining advantage," huffs Glen Ward, president and chief executive officer of North American operations for the Virgin Entertainment Group music stores. In retaliation for the slight, Virgin temporarily refused to carry the U2 DVD or promote any U2 album in its stores for up to five weeks.
"This is something that made everybody pretty furious," says Steve R. Wiley, co-owner of the independent Hoodlums New & Used Music in Tempe, Ariz. To fan the fires, Wiley dashed off an e-mail letter to 500 record labels and distributors that accused U2 of "one of the biggest corporate sellouts of all time."
My reaction:
1. I liked the fact that the DVD sold so well b/c it shows that the public enjoys U2 very much
2. U2 has always maintained a high priority on maintaining control of their work(which they received in the 80's) b/c they did not want their music used to sell corporations(commercials, etc...) due to the fact that it hurts the integrity of the music. Although this is not selling any product but their own, it contradicts their earlier beliefs.
3. Bono opened a concert at the World Economic Forum a few weeks back with the words, "Corporate Motherfucker's"--if these people are corporate motherfuckers and he does not like them, then why is he working with them? He and the band, seem VERY hypocritical here.
4. Some of U2's early stances against American Consumerism and Materialism are totally contradicted by these current actions.
5. The fact that Best Buy sold the item sooner than other outlets probably caused the other music companies to become angry and they may have vented their anger toward U2 instead.
6. The small, independent music store has a good point, but he does sound like sour grapes.
7. I guess you could make a case that U2 could have profited even more by selling the DVD at every store immediately at a higher price. This gave some fans the opp. to buy it at an affordable price.
8. U2 also partnered with a store called Target in the US only and has recently sold a rare disc called U27. Although it is cheap($7), this is another example of teaming up with a big corporation. They also had VH1 and MTV sponsor the Elevation tour.
I don't like that fact that U2's earnings have been glorified in the press recently. However, they only have themselves to blame. I realize that much of these financial connections are the work of Paul McGuiness. His intentions are to handle the "business" side of things. But the band members certainly have control over their music and did not have to partake in these corporate dealings if they did not want to. I hate to admit it, but it seems that U2 is heading down the path of many of their rock predesessors--we're getting old, so lets make as much as while we can.
Look, every musican who sells their record--in an independent small store or a corporate giant like Best Buy or Virgin--in some way is selling out. U2 had made it clear that they want to be the Biggest Band in the world and that requires compromise. However, U2 seem to be compromising and profiting now more than ever, which hurts their integrity somewhat.