U2 Manager Takes Internet Providers To Task

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Get a load of this, Paul McGuinness (U2’s manager) has called on Internet service providers to immediately introduce disconnection policies to end illegal music downloads and he suggested that governments have a responsibility to enforce the policy on ISPs.

In a passionate keynote speech delivered Monday during the International Managers Summit at the MIDEM music conference, McGuinness said it was time for artists to stand up against what he called the "shoddy, careless and downright dishonest way they have been treated in the digital age."
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Great way to undo all the good PR Bono's (RED) program has been doing... Idiot... :rolleyes:
 
"McGuinness said it was time for artists to stand up against what he called the "shoddy, careless and downright dishonest way they have been treated in the digital age.""

Shouldn't he be starting with the record labels then?
 
and in tomorrows news u2 announces they are looking for a new manager
 
I think Bono's "douchebaggery" has started to rub off on everyone around him...
 
Wah Wah Wah. My gold crown isn't shiney enough and my diamond shoes are too tight!. Why do people with tons of money whine about how much they've been "abused". I would think in recent years, the world has been kind to U2, new records being successful, sold out tours, etc. etc.

Amazing that some groups can use music sharing as a way to reach the masses, while others use it as an excuse on why they are not making enough money. Bear in mind, most bands make their money on tour, not by selling CDs. It's the music industry giants who are losing money.

Chalk up one more reason why I hate U2 (primary reason is that they are terrible musicians).
 
rahavsmt said:
Then you'll be missing some great music if their future release is anywhere near as good as their past release. Unless you are planning to get on P2P.
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Too bad U2 hasn't made any good music for the past 20 years.

I don't think anybody will miss anything good from them anytime soon.

Ironically, U2 started sucking about the time Bono started thinking he was god and his music had divine inspiration.
 
haha you guys are touchy huh.. i'm not trying to defend the guy but why's everyone so up in arms about this.. i know why, because all the net kiddies don't want their FREE music downloads taken away.. how hard is it to legally pay for things these days? I do know something, that if any of us were in a band and saw our music sales figures we wouldn't be too happy... but U2 has enough freakin money not to be bitching about this.. I agree that it's a bad move on their part..
 
What is this, 1984? I'm pretty sure this is the 21th century we're in, right? Business enforcing the law for government, can it get worse?

rahavsmt said:
Then you'll be missing some great music if their future release is anywhere near as good as their past release. Unless you are planning to get on P2P.
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U2 hasn't made good music since The Joshua Tree. :p
 
I own close to 700 cd's and I have no problem paying for good music. I'm just so sick of bands blaming "the internet" for their poor music sales when IMO the music industry as a whole has put out shit music for pretty much the last decade (with a few exceptions of course). I have friends who were very close to signing a deal with RCA when RCA told them "we'll sign you if you sound more like paparoach" They told RCA to shove it.(ended up signing with Hollywood records then breaking up) It's tactics like this that have created a shitty music environment of bands that all sound the same and have little to no talent.


Techx said:
haha you guys are touchy huh.. i'm not trying to defend the guy but why's everyone so up in arms about this.. i know why, because all the net kiddies don't want their FREE music downloads taken away.. how hard is it to legally pay for things these days? I do know something, that if any of us were in a band and saw our music sales figures we wouldn't be too happy... but U2 has enough freakin money not to be bitching about this.. I agree that it's a bad move on their part..
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You have got to be kidding me. Are these guys even relevant anymore? I think the TOS and TOU agreements are long enough thank you. We don't need anymore clauses in there. Now go make some music worth buying.
 
oh those poor millionaires. i feel so bad for them. it must be tough trying to support your family and posse as well as buying that french chalet that just went on the market when you are only bringing in 50 million a year. perhaps its time we start up a canned food drive for them?
 
What the hell. Let's just merge big business and the government together. We're halfway there anyway...
 
They have a point but adversely, they need to make music people want to buy and then charge reasonable prices.
As things stand I have little sympathy for them.
 
Fortunately for me, I don't buy or DL music anymore. Most of it is crap now. Internet radio FTW (at least until Boner decides that needs to stop).
 
UhOh! The music industry is getting in the ISP business?
When did toyota start dictating how we use our roads?
When did EXXON tell us how to drive?
Do the auto dealers prevent us from changing our own oil?

Can you imagine if they started telling us these things so that THEY could make more money? You can be sure that the recording companies will cut the ISPs in for a share of the profits. After all, didnt Steve JObs do the same thing, cut ATT in for a share of the profits.? See how successful the iphone was? The recording companies failed to make the connection until now. Freedom of speech is over. Our internet traffic will be monitored and controlled. Money talks.

I think we'll be using modems and bbs software again to log into private bulletin boards. Oh, but then Ma Bell will have these precedents to cut off our phone service.

I laugh when I remember a software exec lamenting the Middle EAst as a coalition of '1 disk countries' - a place where software is only purchased once and then shared forever.

Time for a new paradigm.built in encryption. cant be that hard to do, eh? how about steganography? who can fault you for sharing pictures of jessica alba's sweet face? oh, i forgot, we are already doing that.
 
I'm sure there will be a big turn around on this, just like the Nine Inch Nails guy wanting the ISP tax, then saying he was "misquoted".
 
I'm a huge fan, but it's hard to feel bad for them when they charge $85/$160 a ticket and sell out every arena. I'm sure the next tour will be even more.

 
Who died and made him God? What a prick. He thinks the government exists just to be the police that serves the interests of the rich? Oh... wait.. never mind.... :rolleyes:
 
Another dinosaur gets dragged kicking and screaming into the digital age. No bono, no more $15 a pop * 10 million cd sales of terrible music for you.
 
InorganicMatter said:
What is this, 1984? I'm pretty sure this is the 21th century we're in, right? Business enforcing the law for government, can it get worse?



U2 hasn't made good music since The Joshua Tree. :p
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Bullshit. Achtung Baby, by all accounts, was a great album, and while it may have it flaws, Pop was a lyrical masterpiece. I'm not as big on the last 2 albums, which tended to please most of the "Joshua Tree was the last good U2 album" crowd.

To the guy who said they'll get a new manager, it's not going to happen. McGuiness is a full partner in Not Us Ltd. What's more, you're looking at a manager that was smart enough to get the rights to all of u2's masters before they were huge, which isn't something most young artists get (see the Beatles, Stones, Pink Floyd, Nirvana and probably most current bands).

With that said, I couldn't agree less with him. It's not the ISP's job to enforce the law. Likewise, his analogy was crappy. If the New York times has classified ads filled with stolen goods, they won't get in trouble.

FWIW, in the past, the band members themselves have been ambivalent about downloads.
 
aldamon said:
I'm a huge fan, but it's hard to feel bad for them when they charge $85/$160 a ticket and sell out every arena. I'm sure the next tour will be even more.

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Ain't that the truth....and the last tour was a lot more expensive than the one before it, even though the price increase seemed modest compared the increases from Joshuat Tree to ZooTV, ZooTV to Pop and from Pop to Elevation, in which prices jumped an average of 60-90%.

However, they jumped a lot....what they did was dramatically decrease the percentage of seats at the lowest price (my guess is around 20-25% vs 45% in 2001 and they also increased the number of higher priced seats.

They're one of the best live bands I've seen, and I've seen hundreds, but prices are too high. Then again, when you've got young acts like Justin Timberlake charging an average price of $75.00, it's hard to say U2 is gouging fans with an average price around 95 or 100.

Put the blame where it belongs: The Eagles. Before Hell Freezes Over, nobody charged over a ton for tix. Pink Floyd did charge $65.00 on their last tour for some seets, but it was just a few hundred seats that were perfectly positioned for the best sound....front row was $35 after service charge, as I recall.
 
rahavsmt said:
Then you'll be missing some great music if their future release is anywhere near as good as their past release. Unless you are planning to get on P2P.
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Your second sentence pretty much sums it up. I'll never support artists that push ISPs to watch our every click. Talk about lack of privacy. Would you like to watch me change clothes in my closet too?... you know... in case I'm building a bomb in there.
 
I long for the day when musicians and actors are making salaries that actually reflect what they do for a living. Are songs really worth $1? How about $.50 or $.25? While I don't agree with piracy, I can't help but think it is a necessary evil that will eventually drag the price of music down to acceptable levels.
 
NeoNemesis said:
I long for the day when musicians and actors are making salaries that actually reflect what they do for a living. Are songs really worth $1? How about $.50 or $.25? While I don't agree with piracy, I can't help but think it is a necessary evil that will eventually drag the price of music down to acceptable levels.
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Are they worth a buck? If your'e cherry picking an album, then yes they are.

I swear, people who whine about this are a bunch of babies. How much do you think a single cost 20 years ago? If you think it was under a buck, you're crazy. And if you adjust for inflation, music is as cheap or cheaper today than at any other time.

If you want to steal music, go for it, but don't pretend that music prices have somehow gotten far more expensive than they've been in the past, because they're not.

If you buy albums, there are plenty of ways to get them at a reasonable price.

1. Buy them the week they come out. They're generally 10-12 bucks.
2. Wait till BMG has a bunch of albums you want and has a buy one get the rest for a
1.99. You can easilly get the price of an album under 6 bucks...possibly under 5.

Wait, you want that hot album/single right now? Then pay the piper. It's no different than buying Crysis today vs a year from now....today it's 40-50 bucks. Next year it'll probably 20-30 (and likely available for free with some MB purchases).
 
vote with your wallet.

although i like U2 as artists and am sympathetic to issues some band members are involved with, i am not paying the prices they ask for concert tickets and merch.

i am sure his remarks will be addressed among the the band, and with their manager. i do not see U2 as a band standing by this philosophy, and if they do, then i will further curtail my spending toward their products and other endeavors.

if you dont value their music at the price it sells for...dont buy it. it is really simple.
 
In a related story, U2 has just announced that floor-level tickets to their next concert, "Sucking Balls Live in Belgrade" will cost 23 billion dollars apiece. This is of course due to massive financial losses incurred by U2 thanks to illegal downloading of their music.

Bono was quoted as saying, "We have had to raise prices on our tickets to cover our illegal downloading losses. Oh, forgive 3rd world debt!!!"
 
PNut12345 said:
In a related story, U2 has just announced that floor-level tickets to their next concert, "Sucking Balls Live in Belgrade" will cost 23 billion dollars apiece. This is of course due to massive financial losses incurred by U2 thanks to illegal downloading of their music.

Bono was quoted as saying, "We have had to raise prices on our tickets to cover our illegal downloading losses. Oh, forgive 3rd world debt!!!"
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Unless they're switching to reserved seats on the floor, that's unlikely. For the last 2 years, the floors were the cheapest tix.....of course if you value your time spent in line, then they were likely the most expensive tix.
 
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