Somebody in the U2 camp has been paying attention to recent album releases by Nine Inch Nails, David Byrne and Brian Eno, and Paul McCartney's The Fireman project.
Like these forerunners, U2 is kicking off the promotion for its upcoming album, No Line on the Horizon, by offering the first single as a free online stream, and will offer the album in five packages at different price points--from the superfan box format with a CD, DVD, poster, and hardcover book at $66.49 (if you if you preorder from Amazon, otherwise it's close to $100) to the mere standalone CD for a very reasonable ten bucks.
This makes perfect sense: U2, like these other artists, is well-established but past its peak of popularity. By reaching out to its most highly engaged fans--the ones who checked out the single the second it went on sale and will spring for the box set without hestitation--U2 might be able to get them to spread the word to more casual once-fans or younger listeners who think of U2 as their parents' music. (Wow, it hurt to type that.) The old promotional channels--radio, MTV, mass-market billboard campaigns--just don't have the pull they used to, so this is becoming standard practice for album releases by big acts.
To me, U2's last few albums to sound like they were written by committee rather than a band, but the new single has an interesting Moroccan motif that kicks in during the chorus--the band started recording in Fez, Morocco--and the album cover's pretty cool, although U2's not the first artist to use that photo.
What recession? Right now, there are several hundred people in line at the Seattle Apple Store in University Village, waiting to buy and activate a 3G iPhone, which starts at $199 and requires a two-year commitment to a voice-and-data plan that costs at least $70 per month. The line was just long as last year's, despite the tougher economic climate and the fact that we've had more than a year to get used to the iPhone--seeing one in public isn't much of a surprise anymore.
These two gentlemen were brandishing their first-generation iPhones as they waited in line to buy their new 3G ones.
(Credit: Angela Rosoff)But apparently the promise of a faster data connection, GPS transceiver, third-party applications, and--probably most important--a lower retail price convinced a lot of folks that the 3G iPhone is worth lining up for. The people at the front of the line had camped out overnight, and when I asked the last person in line how long he'd been waiting, he replied, "Three hours, and it'll probably be another three before I get in." That's because Apple is activating the new iPhones on site in the store. According to a staffer there, the process took about 30 minutes when they opened this morning, but now is down to about 10, which is their goal.
I saw several people brandishing their first-generation iPhones in the line. A couple of them told me they intend to sell their old phones on eBay--or perhaps to the young man waiting at the front of the line with a "will buy old iPhone" sign.
Perhaps they'll sell them to this guy.
(Credit: Angela Rosoff)
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