New U2 Album Will Be "Club Sounding"?
Source: http://www.artistdirect.com

In the latest issue of Rolling Stone, Bono says that the next U2 album will be "club-sounding," which was reported by The Associated Press. Club sounding? What the hell does that mean? I guess we will have to read the article and wait till we actually hear the album. I am not sure I like the idea of a "club sounding" U2. But then again, maybe I will.

Also, U2 are also prepping Songs Of Ascent, an album full of material from the "No Line On the Horizon" recording sessions. As if they were not busy enough, Bono and guitarist The Edge are scoring the upcoming Spider-Man musical.

Which endeavor are you more interested in: the new "club sounding" U2 music or how Bono and The Edge score a comic book musical?

—Amy Sciarretto
08.20.10
0 comments | Write Comment | August 21, 2010, 02:50:36 am | by: Emilio

U2 manager still thinks ISPs are freeloading
Source: http://news.cnet.com

This month's U.K. edition of GQ Magazine contains a fairly substantial article from U2 manager Paul McGuinness in which he blames Internet service providers and technology companies directly for the falling sales of recorded music. As he notes in the article, he made a speech on this subject about two years ago and was roundly criticized by various "anonymous bloggers." I've never been anonymous, but I did point out some of the factual inaccuracies and weird assumptions in his speech at the time.
U2 at Madison Square Garden in 2005

U2 still packs shows, but their albums don't sell like they used to.
(Credit: Zachary Gillman via Wikimedia Commons)

I can't speak for anonymous bloggers everywhere, but I've never said that recorded music should be free. It shouldn't! What I have said is that the recorded music industry must come to terms with the fact that it's competing against free. That's reality, and no amount of wishful thinking or legislation will change it. The problem didn't arise with the Internet. It arose with the Redbook CD standard, which didn't have digital rights management or copy protection built in. It has for a long time been trivially easy to rip an audio CD to a non-protected format, then share the resulting file--not only through the Internet, but through simpler methods like exchanging flash drives and CD-Rs.

The other big problem: McGuinness still seems to believe that many broadband customers signed up primarily to download and share digital content. As he asks in the GQ article, "Do people want more bandwidth to speed up their e-mails or to download music and films as rapidly as possible?" The assumption that the latter is true grossly oversimplifies the scope of the Internet. Has he heard of Facebook? Ever try uploading family photos via a dial-up connection? What about Skype--how does that work via dial-up? Video chat? Online gaming? There are 25 million Xbox Live users now. Does he think that most of them signed up for broadband primarily to download free content?

This is all hair-splitting because, as I said last time, I agree with his solution. The only way the music industry can survive is by embracing subscriptions and working with ISPs to offer subscriptions bundled with broadband and/or mobile access.

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0 comments | Write Comment | August 21, 2010, 02:49:07 am | by: Emilio

U2 Makes Annual Forbes List of 100 Most Powerful Celebrities‏
Source: http://www.forbes.com/


U2 just made it into Forbes list of 100 most powerful celebrities, being ranked at #7. The world's biggest rock band, U2 launched a massive world tour in 2009 that has brought in more than $311 million in gross box office receipts. Each tour stop brings in $10 million in gross ticket sales. Add in lucrative merchandise sales, heavy radio play and a steady-selling back catalog, and you have the highest-earning band on the planet.

>>Read more

0 comments | Write Comment | June 29, 2010, 01:14:01 pm | by: Emilio

U2 Bassist Sues Manager
Source: http://www.rttnews.com/

U2 member Adam Clayton is suing one of his finance managers for negligent business practices. The bassist filed papers against Gaby Smyth and two other accountants in Dublin's High Court.

As the band's financial controller, Smyth oversees their revenues, investments and holdings. Sources close to Clayton have noted that the suit may be related to Smyth's handling of Clayton's lawsuit against a former housekeeper who is accused of stealing 1.4 million pounds from Clayton.

"It would be unwise to assume that this case relates to the case against his housekeeper, but that's not to say it has nothing to do with her," the source tells the U.K.'s Daily Mail.
0 comments | Write Comment | June 27, 2010, 02:03:12 am | by: Emilio

U2 May Play Glastonbury 2011
Source: http://www.artistdirect.com

After U2 were forced to cancel both their summer tour and their much anticipated first time playing the fabled Glastonbury Festival after singer Bono injured his back during rehearsals, which caused him to have emergency surgery, the band may play next year's edition of the annual event. The band was scheduled to headline the fest, which occurs later this month on June 25. but those plans were scrapped, much to the dismay of organizers, fans and the band itself, especially since U2 even wrote a song they were going to perform exclusively for the fest. The Gorillaz will fill U2's slot.
1 comment | Write Comment | June 08, 2010, 03:21:39 am | by: Emilio

Will Palm's sale create a windfall for U2's Bono and partners?
Source: http://www.businessweek.com

Q: What's the connection between one of the world's top rock and roll performers and a sinking U.S. smartphone maker? A: Venture capital.

Bono, lead singer and a guitarist for the Irish rock group U2, is one of five professionals on the investment team for U.S.-based Elevation Partners, which has invested in Palm. News broke this week that Palm is actively looking for a buyer.

Palm's new smartphones failing to fuel sales

"U2's Bono set for multi-million pound Palm windfall" declares an enthusiastic headline at the U.K.'s Telegraph news site.

Of course, the same could be said of the other four members of the investment team, but they're not rock stars, at least not real rock stars.

There's only one problem with the Telegraph's prediction: How much of a windfall, if any, Bono and the other Elevation investors will get depends entirely on what a buyer is willing to offer. In fact, there's a chance Elevation may not even recoup the more than $400 million it has invested so far in Palm.

Elevation struck a "strategic recapitalization" deal with Palm in 2007, buying $325 million of a new series of convertible preferred stock, giving the fund about a 25% ownership stake in the handheld company. It brought on Jon Rubinstein, former senior vice president and head of Apple's iPod division. Also part of the deal: $400 million in new debt.

>>Read More

0 comments | Write Comment | April 23, 2010, 01:21:08 am | by: Emilio

U2: Historic Rose Bowl DVD Release
Source: http://www.ultimate-guitar.com

 U2 are to release a DVD of their Rose Bowl concert which was broadcast on YouTube last October.

The 97,000 capacity Rose Bowl show made history on 25 October when it was the first full concert to be broadcast on the video sharing website, YouTube.

"U2 360° At The Rose Bowl" will be released in the UK on 7 June in a range of formats.

As well as standard DVD and Blu Ray editions a Deluxe Edition features a documentary called "Squaring the Circle: Creating U2 360°" about the making of their extraordinary tour.

Here's the tracklisting:

01. Get On Your Boots
02. Magnificent
03. Mysterious Ways
04. Beautiful Day
05. I Still Haven’t Found What Im Looking For
06. Stuck In A Moment You Can’t Get Out Of
07. No Line On The Horizon
08. Elevation
09. In A Little While
10. Unknown Caller
11. Until The End Of The World
12. The Unforgettable Fire
13. City Of Blinding Lights
14. Vertigo
15. I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight
16. Sunday Bloody Sunday
17. MLK
18. Walk On
19. One
20. Where The Streets Have No Name
21. Ultra Violet (Light My Way)
22. With Or Without You
23. Moment Of Surrender
0 comments | Write Comment | April 01, 2010, 08:19:28 pm | by: Emilio

U2 Easily Tops 2009 Money-Making Tours List in the U.S.
Source: http://www.gather.com

U2, no strangers to rolling in dough, was the biggest musical money-maker Stateside in 2009, according to Billboard. Touring, record sales, and other royalties brought Bono and the boys some $109 million in revenue for the year, easily besting second place Bruce Springsteen at $58 million, Madonna at $47 million, and AC/DC at $44 million.

One shudders to imagine just how much the group could have made if their current album, No Line on the Horizon, had actually spawned any memorable hits.

Rounding out the Top 10 were Britney Spears, Pink, Jonas Brothers, Coldplay, Kenny Chesney, and Metallica.

Billboard's rather arcane way of measuring income should be noted. The magazine used flat royalty rates of 20% for "superstars" and 16% for newer artists in arriving at its recorded-music sales income figures, and credited touring acts with 34% of gross tour receipts -- ballpark figures that are decent estimates, if not precisely exact.

Michael Jackson was named the top earner in the CD and ringtone-only category, but finished just 20th overall. Had his planned London concerts not been, um, interrupted, he most likely would have finished higher.

0 comments | Write Comment | February 28, 2010, 03:02:39 am | by: Emilio

U2 tops highest-grossing concert tour list for 2009
Source: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com

In just 20 beautiful days on the concert trail last year, U2 racked up the highest-grossing North American tour of 2009, pulling in $123 million at the box office in a year in which overall concert business was one of the music industry's remaining bright spots.

The Irish quartet’s bar-raising 360 Tour of sports stadiums, which visited 16 cities, sold more than 1.3 million tickets, translating to a nightly average of just more than 82,000 fans, according to Pollstar, the concert-industry tracking publication.

U2 was the only act to cross the $100-million mark last year, and its nightly average at the box office pummeled the competition, at nearly $7.7 million per show. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, which tallied nearly $95 million from 58 shows, follows U2 at No. 2 in Pollstar's ranking. But the hard-charging New Jersey outfit also drew more than 1 million fans to those shows, one of six tours to cross that threshold last year.

Compare that with 2008, when only one act -- country star Kenny Chesney -- topped 1 million in total ticket sales.

Elton John and Billy Joel’s ever popular joint tour placed the pair at No. 3 last year, with a box office gross of $88 million in 31 performances. Britney Spears’ Circus tour helped the erstwhile teen pop queen rebound from her personal and professional travails, placing her at No. 4 with a total take of almost $83 million.

She came in ahead of veteran Australian rock band AC/DC, which rounds out Pollstar's top 5 with just under $78 million from 47 shows.

"It does appear that overall gross revenue is up," Pollstar editor Gary Bongiovanni said this week, noting that the magazine is still tabulating final figures for the year. "The No. 1 tour came in higher than last year's No. 1 tour, the No. 25 tour was higher and the No. 50 tour was higher."

That's in line with Billboard's recent report showing concert business up worldwide, with total revenue of $4.4 billion, up nearly 12% over 2008, and total attendance of 73 million similarly up nearly 13% from the previous year.

>>Read More
0 comments | Write Comment | January 01, 2010, 01:26:33 am | by: Emilio

U2 Bag Glastonbury 40th Anniversary Spot\
Source: http://www.glasswerk.co.uk

It’s recently been announced that U2 have been confirmed to headline the Glastonbury 2010 festival, and it will also be the first time the band have ever played Glastonbury. I for one am stunned, I can’t believe they have never played Glastonbury! Is this the same U2 who have possibly gigged everywhere known to man? They’ve played on liquor store roof tops, on Mississippi river boats and the streets of New York but never good ole Glasto. U2 are one of the hardest touring bands around. They built much of their reputation, especially in America, from touring anywhere and everywhere. I find it hard to believe they haven’t played Glastonbury, particularly in their early years, but alas it is true and the Glastonbury website confirms it, as Michael Eavis states:

"The 26-year-old rumour has finally come true. At last, the biggest band in the world are going to play the best festival in the world! Nothing could be better for our 40th anniversary party. And there are even more surprises in the pipeline..."

But why, after 26 years, choose now? Wouldn’t it have made more sense for the band to play Glastonbury early on in their career when they needed the exposure? Oh hang on, they did Live Aid instead. U2 went on to be one of the biggest bands in the world, so they didn’t really need to play Glastonbury. But without being too cynical we have to accept that in this day and age the music industry has changed so bands need new ways to reach generation download and what better way than to use Glastonbury as that platform. The benefits of playing this particular festival are extremely valuable. Glastonbury has the ability to cross genres, it’s had Jay- Z, Radiohead and Bruce Springsteen grace it’s stages. It also has a diverse crowd and one that stretches across all age groups. Also let’s not forget that it is an honor to be asked to play Glastonbury it’s a much loved festival that we are all kind of fond of. So what better way for U2 to revitalize their fan base with a prestigious 40th anniversary slot at next year’s Glastonbury festival.
0 comments | Write Comment | November 25, 2009, 02:50:58 am | by: Emilio