News: June 2008 Archives

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June 30, 2008

U2 to Mandela: Sorry

Stephen Maguire

U2 were forced to pulled out of a planned trip to help Nelson Mandela celebrate his 90th birthday party -- to concentrate on their latest album.

The supergroup were due to join a host of other stars at London's Hyde Park on Friday for a special concert.

But the group backed out at the last minute -- with Bono and the Edge sending a video message instead.

The millionaire rockers are holed up in their Hanover Quay studios in Dublin putting the final touches to their new album which is expected to be released in October.

A source close to the band said they were bitterly disappointed they couldn't make the party.

"The band have always been supporters of the anti-apartheid movements and became personal friends with Mr. Mandela. They wanted to go but are simply snowed under," said the source.

Dozens of stars including Annie Lennox, Simple Minds, Leona Lewis and Coldplay sang for the world's most famous former prisoner.

Andrea Corr flew the flag for Ireland with a haunting duet with Queen guitarist Brian May.

A staggering 46,664 people, Mandela's former prisoner number, attended the concert.

Posted by Jonathan at 04:55 PM | Comments (0)

June 19, 2008

Bono Statue Needs Money

Irish Voice,

A DUBLIN artist who's obviously quite talented - he created the statue of Irish musician Phil Lynott on Harry Street in the city - is well into his next project, but it's proving so costly that he's run out of funds and may not complete it.

The subject in question is Bono, and artist Paul Daley has been working on the statue of the U2 superstar for three months. But Bono remains unfinished in Daley's workspace because he can't afford the materials to go on.

"It's a labor of love really but I've gone with it as far as I can go without funding. Artists normally get commissioned to make pieces like this but I got so wrapped up in what I was doing, I didn't think about the cost," Daley told the Sunday Tribune.

The likeness of Bono comes from a photo that Daley saw during the band's Joshua Tree tour. "There's something incredibly powerful about Bono in this period. Evangelical almost. The way he stood on stage at Live Aid, the goodness of the man, and that's what appealed to me and started me making the piece," he added.

But will the piece ever get finished? A logical starting point for financing would be Bono himself, but Daley hasn't gone that route . . . yet.

"No I haven't approached U2. Things look pretty hopeless now but in my heart of heart I know I'll finish it," he says. Perhaps if Bono read the piece over his Sunday breakfast he'll take pity and come up with the dough.

Posted by Brenda at 07:54 PM | Comments (0)

June 10, 2008

No freebies to come with the new U2 release

U2 Album in October 2008?

Georgie Rogers, BBC 6,

Coldplay and Radiohead have been distributing their music in new ways by giving fans their music for free, but do not expect the same from rock giants U2.

Their new album is due out this year and U2's manager Paul McGuinness explained to 6 Music why they would not follow in Radiohead's footsteps.

He said: "There will be events around the release of the album but for U2 physical sales are still an enormous part of our business and we still sell a lot of actual CDs.

"We will obviously work with whatever technology is available to make the release of the new record as interesting as possible."

McGuinness feels Radiohead's free giveaway and pay-what-you-like scheme was not a very business-savvy move.

Speaking to 6 Music, he said: "We should all be aware that Radiohead's honesty box release of their album to some extent backfired."

Continuing: "Even though it was available on their own website for no money at all, if that was what you preferred to pay - 60 to 70 per cent of the people who downloaded the record stole it anyway even though it was available for free."

With regards to an actual release date McGuinness revealed they are hoping to put the record out in Autumn 2008.

"The exact date is not clear yet but I would think towards the end of October," McGuinness said.

Posted by Brenda at 04:32 PM | Comments (0)

June 08, 2008

U2 manager lashes out at ISPs again

Paul McGuinness delivers Music Matters keynote

Steve McClure, Billboard, June 04, 2008

HONG KONG -- U2 manager Paul McGuinness has delivered another hard-hitting speech in which he said that by refusing to join forces with the legitimate music business, Internet service providers are clinging to the past and preventing the music industry's future growth.

In his keynote presentation at the Music Matters conference in Hong Kong on June 4, McGuinness said he wants to see "a real commercial partnership" between ISPs and the music business in which they fairly share their revenues, as well as "action to stop mass copyright theft."

McGuinness had used his keynote speech at MIDEM in January to accuse ISPs of "destroying the recorded music industry" by failing to tackle piracy, and he returned to this theme in Hong Kong -- although he welcomed some initiatives by European governments.

"Privately negotiated revenue-sharing partnerships are, I believe, a key model for the future," said McGuinness, who has managed the superstar Irish band for the past 30 years.

"One way or another, ISPs and mobile operators are the business partners of the future for the recorded-music business," he said. "But they are going to have to share the money in a way that reflects what music is doing for their business."

McGuinness believes that's especially true in China, where he says leading telecom China Mobile makes "hundreds of millions of dollars each year from sales of ringtones and ringback tones, yet pays a minuscule fraction of that to performers, producers and composers. That to me is not a fair business partnership."

While dismissing the general international legal framework as being of "only limited help," McGuinness welcomed recent initiatives by the French, British, Danish and other national governments aimed at disconnecting large-scale illegal file-sharers and exploring the filtering of copyright-infringing networks.

"Progress depends on national governments," McGuinness said in a press briefing after his speech. "I would like to see the workers (creators) paid, which they aren't at the moment."

In rejecting an advertising revenue-driven business model for the music industry, he said he doesn't want to see "artists reduced to the status of employees working for glorified ad agencies."

"The music business once had to bear the accusation that it was full of dinosaurs who looked back to an old business model rather than embracing a new one," McGuinness said. "Today, though, it is the music business that is charting the way to the future.

"If there are dinosaurs around today, I think they are the Internet free-thinkers of the past who believe that copyright is the great obstacle to progress, that the distributors of content should enjoy profits without responsibilities and that the creators and producers of music should simply subordinate their rights to the rights of everyone else. We have not reversed the troubles of the music industry yet -- but at least the dinosaurs are no longer running the show."

Posted by Brenda at 04:48 PM | Comments (0)

June 03, 2008

Early U2 Reissues Packed with Rarities

Jonathan Cohen, Billboard,

A wealth of previously unreleased and rare material will be found on reissues of the early U2 albums "Boy," "War" and "October," due July 22 via Universal. Each album will be available as a remastered single CD, a deluxe set with a second disc of extras and on vinyl.

U2's 1980 debut album, "Boy," features the previously unreleased tracks "Speed of Life," "Saturday Night" and "Cartoon World" and a previously unreleased mix of "I Will Follow." "Boy-Girl" and "11 O'Clock Tick Tock" are captured in live versions taped at London's Marquee.

The new edition of 1981's "October" boasts a series of tracks taped live at London's Hammersmith Palais and Boston's Paradise Theatre, a BBC session with Richard Skinner and Common Ground's remix of "Tomorrow."

1983's "War" is bolstered here with the previously unreleased track "Angels Too Tied to the Ground," several remixes of "New Year's Day" and "Two Hearts Beat as One" plus the 7-inch single edit of "New Year's Day."

U2 is recording its next album with producers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois. No release date has been set, but rumblings are that it may be out before the end of the year via Interscope.

Here are the tracklists for the U2 reissue bonus discs:

"Boy":
I Will Follow (Previously Unreleased Mix)
11 O'Clock Tick Tock
Touch
Speed of Life (Previously Unreleased Track)
Saturday Night (Previously Unreleased Track)
Things To Make and Do
Out of Control
Boy-Girl
Stories For Boys
Another Day
Twilight
Boy-Girl (Live at the Marquee, London)
11 O'Clock Tick Tock (Live at the Marquee, London -- Previously Unreleased Version)
Cartoon World (Live at the National Stadium, Dublin -- Previously Unreleased Track)

"October":
"Gloria" (Live at Hammersmith Palais, London)
"I Fall Down" (Live at Hammersmith Palais, London)
"I Threw a Brick Through a Window" (Live at Hammersmith Palais, London)
"Fire" (Live at Hammersmith Palais, London)
"October" (Live at Hammersmith Palais, London)
"With a Shout" (Richard Skinner BBC Session)
"Scarlet" (Richard Skinner BBC Session)
"I Threw a Brick Through a Window" (Richard Skinner BBC Session)
"A Celebration"
"J. Swallo"
"Trash, Trampoline and the Party Girl"
"I Will Follow" (Live at Paradise Theatre, Boston)
"The Ocean" (Live at Paradise Theatre, Boston)
"The Cry/Electric Co." (Live at Paradise Theatre, Boston)
"11 O'Clock Tick Tock" (Live at Paradise Theatre, Boston)
"I Will Follow" (Live From Hattem, Netherlands)
"Tomorrow" (Bono & Adam Clayton, Common Ground Remix)

"War":
"Endless Deep"
"Angels Too Tied to the Ground" (Previously Unreleased Track)
"New Year's Day" (7" single edit)
"New Year's Day" (USA Remix)
"New Year's Day" (Ferry Corsten Extended Vocal Mix)
"New Year's Day" (Ferry Corsten Vocal Radio Mix)
"Two Hearts Beat As One" (Long Mix)
"Two Hearts Beat As One" (USA Remix)
"Two Hearts Beat As One" (Club Version)
"Treasure (Whatever Happened to Pete the Chop)"

Posted by Jonathan at 06:08 PM | Comments (0)

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