New U2 Album "Songs of Innocence"* (Part 2)

Would've been 28,001 if they'd included the bonus tracks on side 4, or just put the 11-track album on one LP. For an album I already technically own and am listening to, $36 was far too pricy for my wallet.

 

Not sad monetarily..but for what is says about where music stands in our culture.

I started a thread about this earlier in the year. THE ROCK ALBUM IS DEAD AS A COMMERCIAL and CULTURAL ENTITY.

 

It was no experiment..they KNEW it would sell didley squat. That is why they took the 30 million up front.

 

Still, the sales in the US is quite a bit lower than in many areas in the rest of the world. The album hit #1 in France, Netherlands, Spain, plus some others. It went to #2 in Ireland (behind new Irish sensation Hozier) and Germany. In its second sales week the album apparently sold more copies in France (~29,000) than in the US. Relatively speaking the US is now one of the lower-performing countries.
Granted, they did most of their promotion in Europe for now, but the difference is still striking.

 

Also interesting from that Billboard article:

So vinyl is about 4% of the album's sales too, i.e. 92% of the sales have been of the CDs.

 

And a good move it was to get the money up front. My theory is that they at least got as much money as their record advance is from Universal (isn't that something like ~$20 million for a delivered album?). In today's market they can't expect to sell say 5 million copies worldwide just to earn their advance back and start collecting royalties. Almost no artist sells that many copies anymore.

Now U2 and Universal have probably earned the advance back and have millions more people exposed to the album. Whatever happens now is just bonus, though I'm pretty sure they're secretly hoping that at least one song will also elevate the profile of their album (for me, Every Breaking Wave is that song and these live versions on various TV/radio shows are all stunning).

 

yep pretty dead the rock is.

 

Apple freebie falls flat
(3 out of 10) says Classic Rock Magazine.

The new U2 album: delivered in the manner of a miscreant breaking into someone's house to take a dump on the carpet,
as millions of iTunes users awoke to find it added - without their consent, just like a spam - to their accounts.
Apple are apparently committed to a $100m royalty and marketing campaign to support the release, which explains
the rather grubby delivery, but it's an extraordinary financial coup for a band whose previous album (2009's No Line On The Horizon)
has sold as many copies in the U.K. over the last five years as "Now That's What I Call Music! 70" during the first week of release.

This lumpen collection live up to the tawdry nature of the deal.
Whatever happened to this band? Where's all the fierce ambition? Where's the fury, the focus, the fight?
Songs Of Innocence is stricken with lethargy, with a level of aspiration that extends as far as Coldplay and never explodes further.
Only the closing "The Troubles," a spooky duet with Swedish indie-popstel Lykke Li, is worth seeking out - but you don't have to, do you?
(Fraser Lewry)

 

I agree. 30? wasn't it 150 million?

 

Mine:

Invisible
Every Breaking Wave
The Crystal Ballroom
Song for Someone
Iris
Volcano
Raised By Wolves
Cedarwood Road
Sleep Like A Baby Tonight
Lucifer's Hands
The Troubles

 

Don't these "reviewers" try anymore?

 

They apparently "tried hard" on the Apple/iTunes side of the story.

 

Excellent review, certainly better than Rolling Stone's. For me Lykke Li is the best performer on the whole album.

 

The CD is alive and well...in the world of physical sales...contrary to the pablum being spread by many.

 

Who the F knows at this point...lol.

 

Right....

 

Please don't forget the tens of millions they will split in 2015 when the tour is done.

Album sales are of no consequence....they are now vanity projects and loss leaders for folks like U2.

 

His manager, lol, it was widely reported the exact amount was: 100m not 150 not 30.
Exclusive: Guy Oseary on U2's $100 Million Deal With Apple, And What's Next for the Group
http://www.billboard.com/biz/articl...guy-oseary-on-u2s-100-million-deal-with-apple

 

Says nothing about 100 mil to the band but there is a 100 mil ad campaign in the works, which includes Apple promoting them selves.

 

then take another:
http://www.independent.ie/business/media/nothing-innocent-about-apples-100m-u2-deal-30602160.html

 

A Review of Classic Rock Magazine's Review (just barely) of the new U2 Album: Falls Flat and Victim of "Let's have the one guy who doesn't like U2 at the office review their new album!"

(2 out of 10) says A Guy on the Hoffman Forums.

Yet another review of Songs of Innocence: delivered in the manner of most early reviews of the album which mainly focus on the delivery method of the album instead of actually reviewing, you know, the album.

The review is virtually interchangable with other early reviews (which really shouldn't be called reviews) which are most predictable:

Reviewer spent more time focusing on distrubtion of album (check!)
Brought up previous album sales (check!)
Mention Coldplay (check!)
Name drop Lykke Li's appearance as the only worthwile thing on the album to score yourself some sort of indie cred (check!)

And there you have it.

(davidshirt)

 

What am I missing here...no source quoted..just a number that appears out of thin air. Next article will say 75 mil, then 95 mil.

 

do you have a quote for the 30Mil? I trust the independent, they know U2 things on advanced.....

 

No, no figure has been verified...the 30 mil number came from a newspaper article...I believe it was the Washington Times.

 

They got paid. They got their best sounding album (in my opinion) since POP heard by millions. They got some bad press and they got some good press. This is probably the most attention the band has received since 2001. I've been lukewarm on the band for most if not all of the 2000's but I'm pretty sure once the initial press wears off on how the album was delivered and they start touring things will take on a more positive spin. They've been killing it on these promo appearances. I like U2 when they're confident and don't care. Sure, Bono "kind of" apologized for the way Apple delivered the album, but even that apology came across as "I'm sorry you're upset about this".