I’m not sure if this was moved up in response to leaked copies of U2’s newest album, No Line On The Horizon spreading across the Internet, but the entire the album will be streamed for free at MySpace Music. The player in U2’s MySpace Music page features a single, but if you click on the top album in the sidebar, you can hear the entire thing. MySpace says that the entire album will be streamed from February 20 to March 3, with links to pre-order it.
This is akin to Radiohead offering a free download of their album In Rainbows for a limited time, except without the download. It is good marketing, at it helps the band try to keep control over distribution. Although, that Bittorrent cat is already out of the bag. (The unreleased album leaked out and has been downloaded hundreds of thousands of times by fans who just can’t wait for U2’s perfectly planned release schedule.
Update: MySpace says the timing of the streamed release was planned all along. Listening to it now. U2 still rocks (or maybe I’m just old).
Testing somthing.
“downlodas”
Downlodas or Downloads?
hey u2: look at NIN, Saul WIlliams or Girl Talk to see how to do it properly!
No kidding. I can’t believe how all of these major acts still do this nonsense. More established bands really need to follow Trent Reznor’s lead.
This isn’t really news – it’s been available for weeks on u2.com
http://goyb.u2.com/
This is actually a good idea…it worked decently for Radiohead and got attention it wouldn’t have got releasing the traditional way, and it’ll work even better for more “popular” musicians like U2.
Its more a copy of Guns N’ Roses Chinese Democracy (as they streamed it on MySpace before the release) than Radiohead
There’s only 1 good song in this album. Save your money.
Where do I get “leaked downlodas”?
If you are going to bore us with a post like this, don’t add insults with typos and grammatical errors.
of all the great music being made right now, people really care about these washed-up has-beens? i mean, u2? sweet lord.
people are still trading grateful dead bootlegs – just saying…
More hypocritical:
U2 moving their company to Amsterdam to avoid taxes
or
Rage Against the Machine making tens of millions for a huge multinational company (Sony)
Why does U2 even need to sell their CDs in stores anymore? Why not put it online and require a $2 or $5 charity donation to get it?
it’s called business, I don’t blame them a bit for moving to Amsterdam. As for selling their music exclusively online, yes that would be advised.
Donating $ ???? In case you weren’t aware Bono does more good for the world than most artists out there. He actually spends his time, which is much more valuable and shows he really cares.
rock on U2
If he really cared, he wouldn’t allow the company to move to a tax haven while he pushes for more government spending and (as a result) higher taxes. I guess you don’t see the disconnect there.
But, whatever, he’s hanging out at Davos and the UN so he’s allowed this little bit of hypocrisy.
you really make no sense, if you could save millions of $s by incorporating in an area that has more favorable tax, you wouldn’t? Why do you think so many companies are based in Delaware.
or, because he cares, he moves to a tax haven and now is able to decide where more of his money goes towards the causes and organizations he actually believes make real contributions in third world nations, rather than leaving it up to a gov’t that would give it away in bailout packages to failing banks??
U2 rocks! I love them YEAH!
What? This is news? I do album listening party streams for EVERY album that comes out! Have a listen to the new Lamb of God album here: http://www.mysp...e.com/lambofgod
Smart play, getting more exposure thru the web.
TechFilipino
While you’re there, check out their Kyte player, their Mozes Mob, their Reverbnation Tunewidget, and their Twilio Logjam your friends promotion.
While I have a lot of respect for u2, let me join some of the other TC readers in calling “bullshit” here. While I think it’s great that u2 is offering its full album for you to stream on their myspace, this is NOT akin to Radiohead, GirlTalk, NIN, etc.
What those bands did was innovative, what u2 is doing is simply what indie bands have been doing for years. Throw all your new music up on myspace and let people listen to it. So what’s the big deal, here? And, it’s been available on their site for 2 weeks already!
I’d like to see u2 do something innovative with their marketing of this album. This myspace promo wasn’t it, and I doubt they’ll switch to a pay what you want model. perhaps a remix contest??
This is what I’m talking about!
Other artists, take note……drop your label>
And now Spotify gets a similar deal over in Europe. They sure are making everything right at the moment.
timing is everything. but i still believe that myspace are in serious trouble. currently they are doing nothing to replace labels, in terms of service or functionality. like why is there no help for a band, just below being ready to get signed? interim manager tools, should be standard. your digital manager, is here to kick your ass and get you signed.
To all those who did not like this post.SUCK IT!!! You nerds probably want a story about Twitter clones or how Facebook added a new color to their logo.
The album is fantastic! YES U2 are relevant, last album won 8 Grammys and sold 10 million, so that means something after 33 years together (same four guys mind you!).
Good post, way to mix things up, and buy the album, it is a great change of pace and a true masterpiece.
hilarious
Sooner, later, stream, download, this site, that site- yadda yadda.
A simple blog post stating ‘Hi, we’ve recorded a new album you had no idea we were making, get it here in 7 days’ is the only worthwhile ‘exclusive’ i’ve felt music and the internet has provided me recently.
Radiohead, and Bloc Party, i salute you.
hey erick you gonna be a blogger when you grow up?
I love U2 and I love Techcrunch but I want to point out something very important that all have skipped so far.
Album promotions online are a thing of the past. That traditional marketing. For U2 it makes sense given their legendary status but in general trying to market albums in the digital age is like trying to sell a living room in an environment where only couches are sold.
Welcome to the land of selling more of less.
and I don’t know if anyone has mentioned this, but the chorus of this new single owes a heck of a lot to “Pump it Up!” by Elvis Costello
Elvis C is THE MAN!
And one of the nicest guys.
They sure are losing some bucks off that leaked download.
This all seems pretty conventional; nothing near what other bands have done, with label-less distribution and less conventional online promotion, etc. What I’m interested in: seeing if new, up-and coming bands can survive in this new-media environment. Forget artists that already have millions of fans– I want to see if a no-name band can make it label-less, on an unconventional distribution model. THEN I’ll believe that Radiohead and all these others are pioneering for the industry.
The Radiohead idea was brilliant I thought. Especially since I never heard of anything like it before. But like Radiohead, U2 is a huge rock band and offering listeners the chance to check out their entire album before its release is cool but they still aren’t offering it for a pay-what-you-want download;even though I’m sure they have enough money to go the Radiohead route. I want a completely unknown band to repeat this process and offer their album to stream for free and see if anything generates from it. Because Radiohead’s idea could very well be the new standard of getting music to listeners and creating publicity beyond word of mouth.