I share my thoughts on the U2 thing

First off, it looks like another one of my music industry predictions for 2014 is coming true. I predicted that the U2 album would flop (see original 2014 prediction at the bottom of this blog). Not only would I consider the release of the new U2 album a flop, but the negative ramifications from their partnership with Apple and how the album was released/delivered is just another example of how the music industry continually misses the mark when it comes to engaging their target audience.

Let’s look at what U2 and Apple did. First they gave away the new U2 album away for free. I’ve talked about this before, giving something away for does not build fan/customer engagement. Yes, I’m sure a lot of U2 fans appreciated getting the new album for free, but we’re not hearing from them. I have yet to hear any U2 fan say getting U2’s album for free was awesome. I have yet to hear any U2 fan say that they like the new album. From what I’ve seen, the U2 fans are keeping pretty quiet about this album.

What we have heard is how frustrated non-U2 fans are.

So why didn’t this work? You’ve got one of the biggest bands in the world partnered with not only the biggest music retailer, but a company known for having an extremely loyal and engaged customer base. In theory this probably should’ve worked. So why didn’t it?

People have an emotional connection to their music. Their music collection is something personal. A reflection of who they are. It’s part of their identity. Whether they bought the music or downloaded it for free, a choice was made to add that music to their collection. What U2 and Apple did was remove that choice. I’ve always hated getting clothes as gifts for Christmas or my birthday mainly because I have no say in what style of clothing I get. I have no choice and because I didn’t pick the clothes out myself, I rarely if ever actually wear them. For people who don’t like U2, this was the equivalent of getting an ugly sweater from your aunt for Christmas.

I have seen some people say that a positive that came out of all the negative reaction to the free U2 album was it showed how passionate people are about their music collection.  How people reacted reinforced the emotional connection to music as well as the fact that one’s music collection is a reflection of who someone is. It is part of their identity. I don’t disagree with any of that, but I guarantee this was not the intent of U2 or Apple.

The same can be said for those who say this was a great reminder that we need to be conscious of our security settings on our devices. The fact that this was an invasion of privacy and that people feel violated has been one of the biggest complaints, but we all have the option to set our own security settings on our phones. Sure for those of us who haven’t taken the time to set our own security setting it was a nice little reminder to do so, but again this was not the intent of U2 or Apple.

Something I have yet to hear in all the discussions is what was U2 and/or Apple’s intent? What were they trying to achieve or do? Some have assumed that U2 was trying to reach a new generation of fans, the most of which simply reacted by saying “Who’s U2?” and then deleting the album.

If you are using an older iPhone model, like the iPhone 4 you didn’t get the album. Was this an attempt by Apple to encourage people to upgrade? What about U2 fans who don’t use Apple products, was this an attempt to get them to switch over?

I have also heard some people say that U2 giving away their album for free through Apple was smart marketing. Typically I would disagree with that, most of the reasons why I have already outlined, but one thing I think does support that argument is the fact that this whole thing has everyone talking about U2, Apple and Apple’s products. Was that the intent? Did U2 and Apple sit down and say “How can we get everyone talking about us? I know…lets piss everyone off” Probably not. 

In the end, this was just another example of the music industry having no clue how to engage music fans, and this time the offenders are people who are supposed to be at the top of this game. The leaders in the industry. For me, this was just another example of how badly things need to change.

2014 Prediction: New U2 Album Will Be A Flop – This prediction is more of a gut feeling. There seems to be a lot of buzz and talk about the upcoming new U2 album. First there were the rumors about its release, then the tie into the Nelson Mandela movie and then other stories about U2 parting ways with their long time manager and making appearances at small club shows and sitting in with cover bands at weddings. Bono was even out busking (supposedly a Christmas tradition) in his hometown over the holidays. With all this hype, my gut is telling me the album will be a flop. Sure you’ll probably hear the first official single all over the radio and there will be some significant sales out of the gate, but the hype will fade quickly and we’ll spend less time talking about the album than was spent hyping the release.