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U2 have joined the promotional leagues of Madonna. Bono and Co. have signed a 12-year deal with music conglomerate Live Nation, the company who last year inked a groundbreaking $120 million, ten year, three album deal with Madonna.
U2 will however continue to release its records and publishing commitments with Universal Music Group. The deal covers touring, merchandise and licensing rights, sponsorship, digital rights, fan club/Web sites and other marketing mumbo-jumbo. The pretty penny that the Irish rockers will get for the deal remains undisclosed, but its gotta be up there in the triple digit millions. U2's 2005-2007 Elevation tour brought in $389 million alone, and was the second-highest grossing tour of all time. (The Rolling Stones' A Bigger Bang tour takes the top spot there.)
"It's not a do or die situation that we have to be involved in the recordings," Live Nation Chairman Michael Cohl told Reuters. "We'd prefer to, but it's not always available."
"U2 has created some of the greatest rock music of all time," Cohl said. "It has long been our intention to consolidate and extend our relationship."
"We've been dating for over 20 years now," singer Bono told BBC News. "It's about time we tied the knot."
Is this good news or bad news?
What a waste. U2 could have pulled a Radiohead. They are in a fairly unique position to do things in an independent way. They've made a lot of great music but...
I agree. I wish they released an album for free on-line. Bono is all save the world one minute and then partners up with this huge company that's putting the little guy outta business.
It's a shame that more bands don't go the Radiohead 'In Rainbows' route, and given the success that the Oxford boys had, it's almost surprising that more of even those with commercial (rather than artistic) priorities haven't given it a try yet. It's true that U2 were probably the biggest band in a position to do this - a band with that kind of clout would certainly have legitimized the 'In Rainbows' distribution model for a lot of mainstream acts.
But come on - is anyone really surprised by this? U2 have always been run as a business, be it by the band themselves or by Paul McGuinness. Bono might spend some of his money philanthropically, but make no mistake - he's all about making it, too.
The enormous scale and size of LiveNation allows them great freedom and dominance with little accountability to Joe Public (LN nor any of its very many subsidiaries and subsidiaries' subsidiaries etc. appear to have lost a single court case in recent years; their legal position is so incredibly strong and clever, it makes them virtually immune against any kind of legal action)..... which, I suppose, pleads for as well as against them and anyone they represent.
Am I surprised by U2's move? Not at all.
Good or bad news? My (corporate) business-mind says "Great news!", my music lover's heart says: "Only time will tell", because if and how the fans will benefit (or suffer) depends on how LN are going to deliver.
Like it or not, music, sport, media, entertainment, and so forth are all about business these days, and less about content, creativity, or people; commercial interests take preference over artistic integrity (if there's even any such thing as artistic integrity left).
All's I know is that I'm grateful it wasn't Clear Channel. (I should hope that Bono vetted Live Nation to a certain extent before signing.)
Mike, I could be wrong, but I thought LiveNation came forth out of Clear Channel a couple of years ago (only for LN to become bigger and more profitable than CC), but I don't know if the two are now completely separate or not, if you look at both corporations they are a complex web of entities so there may still be connections there.
Oh, it's definitely a spin-off and has creepy corporate ties to Clear Channel, but I can't imagine anyone at LN is as vile and connected to the Bushies as CC founder and CEO Lowry Mays - a true Repug. On second thought, lie down with dogs and ya get fleas. I hope Bono and the Edge remember their Hartz Mountain collars at the next business meeting with their new masters, er, partners...
Hartz Mountain collars? I am sure Bono will have his own ideas for new some new swanky wristbands, combined with suggestions for repug-offsetting ("Repug. The new Carbon.") Everything is marketable, merchandisable, saleable, ofsettable, or whateverable to the masses. That's what LN is good at.
blah! i hate u2. ego maniacs. joshua tree, smoshua tree!
www.yuppieisland.com
yuck!
You have to acknowledge Live Nation's mission and the power that they possess to succeed. Whether you like it or not, they have been the only major music company that has adequately evolved with the changing record industry.
true dat loganlenz