|
 |
|
|
|
|
"I still wince every time I see myself in that scene." -- Bono, on his cameo appearance in The Million Dollar Hotel, 2000 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"I still wince every time I see myself in that scene." -- Bono, on his cameo appearance in The Million Dollar Hotel, 2000 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
Column: off the record..., vol. 10-393
@U2,
January 17, 2010
Is it me, or has it been a tough week to be a U2 fan? Bono's comments in his occasional op-ed column for The New York Times continue to raise the ire of music fans who don't agree with his view that ISPs are to blame for the troubles facing the music business today. I agree that artists should be paid for their work and defer that he knows more about the music industry than most of the commentators disparaging his remarks, but what he doesn't address is that for years, the record companies have been digging themselves into a hole without the help of the Internet. U2 can hardly be held up as an example of what the recording industry has done right over the past 30 years, as the contracts they negotiated for themselves (including keeping the rights to their music) were the exception, not the rule. They came up at a time when record companies would allow time for artistic development, which is no longer the case. In 2005 during his speech at U2's induction into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Bono gently prodded his music industry friends:
Five years later, record labels still insist on using resources to chase the big hits rather than fund the development of newer artists. If the big hit makers can't deliver after their initial success (to paraphrase Bono), one crap album and you're out. I don't believe there will ever be another superstar band like U2, but they were an anomaly to begin with. It's not necessarily a bad thing if it forces the record companies to alter their thinking on development, marketing and distribution. I don't agree with Bono's assertion that quality will suffer if the Internet is left to its own devices. For me, the opposite is true. I look at what major labels are shoving down our throats (American Idol, X-Factor) compared to artists who launched themselves on the Internet (Lily Allen). All the up-and-comers who were ceremoniously dumped after their first date with Corporate Music are now happily married to the Internet and spawning independent labels they control themselves, or putting their music out without any label support whatsoever. There is excellent music being made and distributed, just not in the way we were used to. Unlike Sherry, I'm buying more music now than ever. As for the issue of file sharing and giving music away, typically, industry executives don't believe that consumers will buy what they can get for free, but studies have shown that consumers do buy more music when they familiarize themselves with the artists. Still, more music is being pirated than ever before, so who's right? Some friends of U2 are against any sort of controls that threaten privacy or net neutrality, as evidenced here. It's a tough issue with no easy answers. The music business is in jeopardy, but only in its current form. Thomas Edison invented the phonograph in 1877, and since then, with each new and more advanced technology endangering the recording industry's status quo, there have been visionaries who have figured out a way to turn a profit for both management and artists. Longtime U2 collaborator Brian Eno comments on this phenomenon in the last paragraph of this interview. He's not worried about it, and as a consumer, neither am I. My music collection is on every format available, from 78s to MP3s. If the music industry implodes, I'll do what I've always done and check out the newest bands at any number of small venues around town. Good music is out there, you just have to go out and find it. The Edge and his business partners are in the news with controversial plans to build homes on a bluff overlooking the ocean in Malibu, Calif. U2 had already been taking a beating over the impact of their carbon footprint for the 360 tour, and while I don't know enough about the area or the venture to know whether this development is a bad idea, I do have to question the judgment of the people involved to propose such a project when backlash against anything that appears to be anti-environmental is at such high levels. Obviously, Edge can do what he wants; I don't understand why he'd want to expose himself to more criticism over the issue. In media news, the BBC acknowledged it went overboard in promoting U2. As I was working on this column, I heard "Bad" come on the TV in the other room, only to run in and find it was an advertisement for NASCAR. NASCAR? Really? I was disappointed to see that previews for the Spider-Man musical have been delayed until at least September. I was looking forward to hearing what critics and fans alike thought of the songs written by Bono and the Edge, who has said they would rock. During a screening of U2 3D at the U2 academic conference in North Carolina last year, Garilyn Calhoun (wife of conference director Scott Calhoun) leaned over and whispered to me, "I miss the rocking." We had just seen the band perform live the night before, and there was a marked difference between the vibe of the 360 shows and the Vertigo shows. The songs on No Line on the Horizon don't lend themselves to heavy rocking, which is fine, but the energy levels of the band and the crowd seemed mellower in response to the mostly mid-tempo songs they played. But, when U2 roared through "Until the End of the World" in Las Vegas, the song, the band, and the crowd ignited. It would be cool if some of the Spider-Man songs made an appearance on the next leg of the tour to pick up the pace and to let the new fans in the audience feel those explosions we older fans are used to. For those of you who want to help the people of Haiti recover from the devastating earthquake earlier this week, there are plenty of options. This organization is the largest coalition of U.S.-based international NGOs and offers excellent guidelines for donating time, money, or materials, as well as what's needed most right now. This site also offers information in the same vein. The Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders are two worthy organizations that have been working in Haiti long before this latest disaster. And finally, in the "I wish I had been there!" category: http://www.hotpress.com/news/6151177.html © @U2, 2010.
|
|
|
||||||
|
||||||||
