photo from the itunes store
Every gambler knows that to lose is what you’re really there for
— Every Breaking Wave
U2 has always been smart about their music business. They’ve been very calculating about every step. Economical and very efficient. From how they place album tracks and
to why they play only for massive futbol crowds. The best apart about it is that they use this tremendous command for the good of the music fans.
The reality with the music industry now is that the albums released is no longer the meat of the business, no longer the blood. Albums are made as launchpad to touring. It is smart for a band as big as U2 to embrace the reality of downloads and let Apple shoulder everything else and have the tech giant deliver the music for free. As forbes.com reported, itunes delivered to 500 million users for free.
There was some unenlightened argument about how disadvantageous it is for a rock music giant to give away a full album for free, saying that it’s bad precedent for the smaller upstart musicians. But it is estimated that U2 got paid US$ 100M minimum for the album. Any up and coming artist would happily take a fraction of that amount and give their album for free than lose it to piracy. The 500M exposure, even if you get the attention of .5% (2.5M) of that and convert them into concert goers is still a better artist launchpad.
Even more so, Songs of Innocence is a solid album, it opens with 2 songs that feels like music that the band can’t wait to play live even if thematically, one don’t match the groove of the other. But it sustains the energy up to where the rhythm duo of Adam and Larry starts to take over (Volcano, Raised By Wolves). I initially thought it was paying homage to a lot of music influences from the past when I misheard “Santa Barbara as some twisted melodic wordplay of the Beach Boys’ Barbara Ann. I mean, they called it California. Iris takes off from where the Mandela theme left. This is Where You Can Reach Me Now is catchy foil with Trouble tying it all nicely in anticipation of the next promised album, Songs of Experience.
It’s a gift! If you don’t like it, re-gift it. Delete it, if it occupies space much like those downloaded movies you stockpiled on your 2 terra bites of external hard drive. But don’t miss out on a chance to witness how an Irish band’s “blood, sweat and tears” is sonically transformed, a truth, energy in a digital bottle to be consumed. Because like them, most of us “get a lot of things we don’t deserve” while waiting for a miracle to happen, when it’s already happening right before our eyes.
danDAman 