Wednesday, January 30, 2008
U2- One
U2 manager proposes novel piracy crackdown
CANNES: Saying that Internet and technology companies have for too long had a "free ride on music," the veteran manager of the band U2 on Monday urged them to start "sharing their enormous revenue" with singers and songwriters.
At the annual music industry trade show in the south of France, Paul McGuinness blamed broadband Internet service providers in particular for allowing mass piracy of digital music over their networks while sales of recorded music and royalty payments to musicians have plunged.
Technology companies like Oracle, Dell, Microsoft and Apple have also reaped millions in sales by whetting the public appetite for digital music without any benefit for the creators of the music, he said.
"They're keeping it all," McGuinness said of the money that tech and telecommunications companies make indirectly from the music business.
His impassioned plea was the latest in a steady stream of cries for help from the creative side of the music business over the past decade, ever since the original Napster made it easy to trade digital tunes over the Internet for free.
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In the meantime, global industry sales have fallen from $38 billion in 1998 to $17.6 billion last year, according to industry estimates.
Various solutions and proposals - from a fund to compensate musicians, to lawsuits against individuals who trade songs, to legitimate digital music services like Apple's iTunes - have failed to stop the tide.
Mark Mulligan, an industry analyst at JupiterResearch, expressed some doubt that McGuinness could make a much of a difference.
"You can point the blame in numerous directions," including Internet service providers, Mulligan said.
"The bottom line is it requires everybody in the value chain to act in concert, or it won't work."
McGuinness endorsed a proposal first raised in France late last year for Internet service providers to voluntarily band together and crack down on subscribers who dominate illegal file-sharing networks. The French plan, drawn up under the guidance of Denis Olivennes, chief executive of the electronics, movie and music retailer FNAC, is the latest in a series of French efforts to deal with media piracy.
Serious violators already face the threat of fines and up to three years in prison. But few have been prosecuted and few convicted under these laws, according to the International Federation for the Phonographic Industry.
"For ISPs in general, the days of prevaricating over their responsibilities for helping protect music must end," McGuinness said.
If they do not, governments should legislate such action, and the music industry should consider legal action against them, he said.
John Kennedy, head of the IFPI, which has sued both consumers and Web site owners on piracy issues, seemed willing to consider lawsuits against ISPs.
"We've tried every other avenue possible," Kennedy said.
McGuinness challenged Steve Jobs, chief executive of Apple, to "apply his ingenuity" to solving the music industry crisis. It was about this time last year that Jobs issued a public letter blaming the record industry, particularly in Europe, for making it difficult to see digital music legitimately.
Apple on Monday had no immediate comment on McGuinness's remarks.
"These are very clever people and a lot of fun to work with," McGuinness said about the technology and Internet community in Silicon Valley. "But they've been extremely socially irresponsible."
"For me," he added, "the business model of the future is one where music is bundled into an ISP or other subscription service, and the revenues are shared between the distributor and the content owners. Some people go further and favor a state-imposed blanket license on music. I don't believe in that."
McGuinness and U2 have in the past had a close working relationship with Jobs and Apple, which has sold a U2-branded iPod, its first commercial partnership for the music device.
"A government cannot set the price of music any more than a rock band can run a government," he said.
The manager said he could not speak for the members of the band on the issue, except to say that U2 has a "excellent relationship" with its record label, Universal Music Group, a division of Vivendi, based in Paris.
At the music industry conference, there were expressions of hope for advertising-funded music services, whose free digital music might be able to compete with the free music on pirate networks, like Limewire and Gnutella.
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Monday, January 28, 2008
BONO DONATES IPOD TO END POVERTY+CORRS
U2 rocker BONO has given the Japanese Prime Minister an iPod in a bid to help end poverty in Africa.
The singer was attending a meeting with former British prime minister Tony Blair and Microsoft mogul Bill Gates on Saturday (26Jan08) when he handed the gift to Yasuo Fukuda.
But the Irish star was modest enough to refrain from adding his band's music to the mp3 device.
Fukuda asked Bono whether his any of his tracks were preloaded onto the iPod, a quick-thinking Bono responded, "No, but you can download it," reports the New York Daily News.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Bono and Al Gore in climate warning
Former US Vice President Al Gore and U2 frontman Bono have offered measured praise for efforts in tackling climate change and global poverty, but warned that conditions are not improving as much as they could.
At a session of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Mr Gore warned that the climate crisis was worsening.
"We could take the whole session talking just about the new scientific evidence of the last few weeks and months," said Mr Gore, who shared last year's Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to fight climate change.
Friday, January 18, 2008
U2 - All I Want Is You live from Milan 2005
is u2 still together??
im sorry im kinda new to this band..
there fucking awesomee!
U2be
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
U2 - Angel Of Harlem
Angel of Harlem
It was a cold and wet December day
When we touched the ground at J.F.K.
The snow was melting on the ground
On B.L.S. I heard the sound
(Of an angel).
New York like a Christmas tree
Tonight, this city belongs to me,
(Angel).
Soul love
Well this love won't let me go.
So long
Angel of Harlem.
Birdland on Fifty-Three
The street sounds like a symphony
We got John Coltrane and a love supreme
Miles and she's got to be an angel.
Lady Day got diamond eyes
She sees the truth behind the lies
(Angel).
Soul love
Well this love won't let me go.
So long
Angel of Harlem.
Blue light on the avenue
God knows they got to you
Empty glass, the lady sings
Eyes swollen like a bee-sting.
Blinded, you lost your way
In the side streets and the alleyways
Like a star exploding in the night
Filling up the city with broad daylight.
Angel in devil's shoes
Salvation in the blues
You never looked like an angel
Angel of Harlem
Thursday, January 3, 2008
U2 With or Without You Live At Slane Castle
Sing my song
It's what I feel
Come and sing, man
This is real
From my soul
COME and hear
I can feel
My senses, dear
Thats what i heard.
Tommy Tiernan Irish Mass
OMG get over it its all a bitta craic lad!!!
'Having anti-semitic views and cursing is not comedy, it's pathetic'....my arsehole u must b american & jewish or smfin get over it!!
dnt fuckin wtch it ya cunt if ya dnt like it!!! Tommy Tiernan is class & so is Billy connelly!!!!
Reply
We applied for planning permission in the Old Testament...classic!
gmaster1983
Reply
Having anti-semitic views and cursing is not comedy, it's pathetic
amergin2006 (4 days ago) Show Hide Marked as spam
Reply
Anti-semitic? Where's the anti-semitism?
I think you've been watching too much Fox News.
u2 - I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking
That is such a great mature version of this song.
You can just feel that nearly 20 years of searching and living has passed for Bono and U2, since they first performed this song!
Truly amazing performance and the Milan crowd made this concert really special.
Wish I was there, that feeling must have been close to what I am looking for!
U2 - Where The Streets Have No Name
"If you were born after 1963 and until 1973. It's your birthright to love this SHIT!!. These guys are our BEATLES and LED ZEPPLIN. Sorry everybody else you can like them but these guys are .......Yes be jealous be VERY JEALOUS!!!!.
Definitely one of the best U2 songs ever! I posted covers of "With Or Without You" and "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own,"
I also believe the video was shot in 87, the year I was born...this is blowing my mind! (Not that the song doesn't do that on its own...)
these 4 guys for are THE BEST BAND EVER IN THE WORLD> THE LYRICS AND SOUND FANTASTIC! GOD BLESS IRELAND!
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