U2's Bono on Collaborating With Apple: 'They Let Us Into the Labs'

[CFreymarc]

I wonder if the projects U2 is working on are related to the projects Trent Reznor is working on?

I wouldn't be surpised. Trent and Bono know each other in the scene but as far as I know, never worked together on any projects.

My take is their "in the labs" makes the band a private beta tester of whatever is cooked up. I doubt if Bono and company can do anything technically beyond adjusting amp gains and lighting for a live gig.

Trent and company have the heavy lifting solid modeling, coding and soldering irons in their hands.

 

[Patriot24]

so we actually have Bono to blame for the catastrophe that is iTunes? now it all makes sense!!!!!

So basically Bono is responsible for iTunes becoming a cluster**** of non-essential features that are forced upon me and get worse with each release? Great.

I hope you're both being sarcastic. Bono's involvement clearly started and stopped at being another set of eyes to provide an opinion. He wasn't making any of the decisions.

As for his involvement now, we'll see. I don't think things are going to get too far out of hand with Trent Reznor in the mix. He won't stand for shenanigans.

 

[bushido]

Streaming services that pay pennies on the dollar compared to what even radio pays are screwing the artist. I hope more artist follow suit because only the top brass at these companies that have no intent on making a profit benefit from this streaming at this point.

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I have never heard an artist claim they get paid better than selling a record. I am an artist and follow the trends closely. Being paid on radio pays 50 or 60 times as much as on Spotify.

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If these services were paying artist the equivalent of what they lose in sales, then they would be worth something.

well at least they get SOMETHING. i certainly wouldnt buy a cd .... but i am happy to pay for spotify. I think my last physical cd was Pokemon Volume 5 as a kid

just makes no sense to me, i barely make it through an album even once nowadays and just pick the songs form an album i like instantly

 

[s2mikey]

i don't think bono has any idea how irrelevant his band has become since zooropa

Or since they were created. Awful band, complete jerk front man who shoves his commie pinko politics down everyone's throat, and they just won't go away.

BARF.

 

[Whitebuck]

Done With U2! Apple?

Peering beyond the facade of hyper-marketing, Apple is sadly in a state of descent.

 

[garbage-barge]

It is extremely difficult to sell consumers on the benefits of streaming services when major artists are yanking their entire libraries off whenever they feel like it.

I wouldn't doubt it was done to save the record industry from headlines about how exactly ZERO albums went platinum this year.

Swift's became the first, and likely only record to sell more than a million copies this year.


From that article, a quote from another in the WSJ about Swift's (vanity) record label:

Big Machine is seeking a buyer, according to people familiar with the matter, and is looking more than $200 million, the New York Post reported over the weekend. Big Machine's records are distributed by Vivendi SA's Universal Music Group. Lofty sales of "1989" could make the label more attractive to bidders against a backdrop of shrinking sales across the industry.

There you have it, she's moving units to prop up her label's valuation.

 

[scottsjack]

Bono is completely full of himself if he thinks I want a 3D version of himself, or anyone else from U2.

Bono and Ive are so much alike, very talented, so full of themselves they make me puke and basically just full of ****. Apple has really become a crap magnet when you include the clowns from Beats.

 

[garbage-barge]

Peering beyond the facade of hyper-marketing, Apple is sadly in a state of descent.

And sadly, the marketing is not longer speaking to me. It's more fashion / celebrity / branding than it is about making stuff that inspires me to make cool stuff with their products. Works for the teenagers down at the mall, but as a programmer, musician and fan of innovative tech in general, I'm bored to death.

 

[Tech198]

It was free alright.... Undoubtedly.... free to all.

not really am improvement i would say, Apple allowed it to happen...

Its fine Bono apologizing, but it's Apple's "mistake" it got pushed,, how is this U2's fault ? It goes through iTunes.


So, this is how Apple does it. When things look bad, they must get help from music industry for assistance...

It's iTunes, an Apple product. users get what they wanna get... Just because Apple can try and soften us up with Beats/re-branding iTunes....etc. it won't help... Content is what helps... Users don't get the right content, they move on to others which do.

If it's declining,, well... there's probably crap on there now anyway.

I can't remember the last time i bought music of iTunes.....

 

[teslo]

interesting that so many people are so negative. i don't like U2 (anymore) but the prospects of a new digital music experience in a way closer to CDs/LPs is kind of exciting. bono and trent reznor are talented smart guys. not even a thought in your heads that maybe something good could come of this? ya'll are super jaded...

 

[na1577]

I wish Apple would stop focusing so much on high profile partnerships and acquisitions. Bono and Trent Reznor are accomplished musicians, but how that makes them qualified for shaping pieces of Apple's future is completely baffling. In particular this iTunes collaboration sounds like an expanded version iTunes LP; a feature that customers rejected because it had no appeal. This "visual masturbation" sounds more like a way for Bono to stroke his ego than something that will be of interest to customers. If Tim Cook is relying on Bono's vision to revitalize iTunes sales, then he is in for a rude awakening once streaming completely wipes out the digital download market.

Say what you will about Beats, but that is a proven brand with capable executives behind it. They're the ones who should be pushing iTunes forward, not out of touch musicians with egos the size of Apple's market cap.

 

[Patriot24]

Say what you will about Beats, but that is a proven brand with capable executives behind it. They're the ones who should be pushing iTunes forward, not out of touch musicians with egos the size of Apple's market cap.

I think that is exactly what is happening. Iovine, Dre, and Reznor are the dream team behind Beats Music. Surely they are in charge of the music vision and delivery going forward. Why else would Apple have acquired them?

Bono's role is likely being inflated here. I'm sure he is giving input (probably most of it valuable), but he doesn't have his finger on the trigger as some are suggesting.

 

[dmj102]

Exactly....baffling it is. What can they possibility bring to the table to enhance users experience? I thought that exchange at the Apple event was soooooo pathetic as a lot of others. Not very many people are interested in the U2 now and I've (not to be confused with "Ive") made attempts to delete that free album from MY iTunes library. I never asked for it......and now it's there forever. Nothing can be really deleted from iTunes.

 

[scottsjack]

If people were content buying CDs, they'd buy CDs. That hasn't been the case for the better part of a decade.

Hey I just received a CD from Amazon yesterday! I prefer high-quality music files. If I cannot find something on HDTracks I order the CD. iTunes downloads are just to try a song out (or if I am desperate).

 

[PsykX]

A complete overhaul of iTunes won't do any bad at this point.

It could be nice to have a touch ID integration with a next generation of keyboards (you know, on a full-size wireless keyboard with a keypad )

 

[ChazSch]

to bad U2 didn't let Apple into the recording studio as a payback. Might have helped the album ...

 

[Patriot24]

Hey I just received a CD from Amazon yesterday! I prefer high-quality music files. If I cannot find something on HDTracks I order the CD. iTunes downloads are just to try a song out (or if I am desperate).

This is a problem that Apple should also seek to solve. We know from past rumors that they were kicking around the idea of a premium service for high-quality tracks. Obviously that is at odds with the notion of streaming services, though.

The core of any service they deliver going forward should be founded on quality, selection, and convenience. If any one of those three things is not present, then they're going to be more vulnerable to competitors.

I can see the marketing now:

"Music - The best way to experience high-quality streaming audio from the artists you love."

 

[Klae17]

If you can't get it free via streaming, you gotta buy it. Swift move!

Hahahahaha this made me lol!

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A lot of people, probably the majority, liked U2's free album, though they are getting long in the tooth.

And Taylor Swift's new album, which is terrific -- and I'm an old Dylan fan -- was selling like hotcakes anyway. The pulling out of Spotify, wasn't it? My iTunes Radio thing is streaming the whole album, and you have a big "Buy" icon next to every number, and for the album.

Streaming is a replacement for radio, which basically doesn't play hit radio anymore. It pays the artist next to nothing, so big acts don't like it, but people with a new hit love it. Better than radio, because friends will tell you about a new song or artist, and you can hear it immediately and usually buy it with an in-app purchase.

But I apologize, because you are obviously hip and in the know and U2 is not and they're old and yucky.

Old and yucky, I know rice!?

 

[ElTorro]

The last thing Apple needs is this halfwit's advice on products.

 

[JeffyTheQuik]

I downloaded it but still have not listened to it. I'm afraid to.

Nothing stands out as a "hit song".

I like U2 from the 80's, but this one is like Muzak at Sears. After you hear it 23 times, you may recognize the songs.

 

[Nanotyrns]

Gary Powers sez "Hellooooo"

Am I a bad person because now I say "U2" the same way I say "YouTube"? Like it's supposed to be "you TOO" but instead now I say "YOU too" and many times catch myself saying "YouTube" anyways.

And OH MY GOD TAYLOR SWIFT!!! SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!



(I'm not really clear on who she is)

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Say what you will about Beats, but that is a proven brand with capable executives behind it. They're the ones who should be pushing iTunes forward, not out of touch musicians with egos the size of Apple's market cap.

Lately I've been wondering how much longer Iovine and Dre will be "part of the team" at Apple. I feel like after a year, two at the outside, they'll announce they're leaving to pursue other interests. And not because Apple forced them out but because maybe these are guys that still have other things they want to do.

 

[japanime]

Gary Powers sez "Hellooooo"

As in Francis Gary Powers?

I never dreamed I'd see a reference to the doomed U2 pilot on MacRumors!

 

[mazz0]

Is this actually what people want? Does anyone really care about the extras (genuinely asking)?

 

[darcyf]

The iTunes of ten years ago was beautiful in its simplicity and ease of usage. That's all I have to say on that, really.

 

[MrCornfed]

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