Rich Fiscus
6 Feb 2009 1:59
Around a year ago U2's manager was telling anyone who would listen that the internet freeloaders were destroying the music industry. Apparently those freeloaders have magically turned into prospective customers. Following in the steps of pioneers like Trent Reznor and Radiohead, U2 will be giving away the first single from their new album.
The single, called "Get On Your Boots," will be available for free download on February 15. The album will be in stores on March 2 in several forms. There will be a CD, 3 different limited edition CDs with various extras including booklets and downloadable content, and even a vinyl version.
What's strangely missing are packages centered around downloads, perhaps in a high quality format like FLAC. Apparently they haven't learned quite as much as it looks like at first. Perhaps they're still hoping to "catering to people who want to hear music "through big speakers rather than ear buds," as their manager suggested last year.
The only problem is those people listening to ear buds are the ones buying music. The reason Trent Reznor and Radiohead made piles of money from new business models was because they gave consumers something they were clamoring for. People can already get CDs. They want something different.
And some of us have big speakers connected to a media center PC.