Exposing The Patent Troll Playbook... And How To (Almost) Beat It

Will U2 Manager's Next Rant Blame Bono For Leaked U2 Tracks?

from the blame-game-come-uppance dept

Mon, Aug 18th 2008 1:39am — Mike Masnick

In the past year or so, U2's manager, Paul McGuinness has lashed out at pretty much everyone, other than those in the music industry, for the evils of file sharing. His main target was ISPs, but also device manufacturers, search engines, social networks and many, many others. It wasn't long after this that U2 lead singer Bono more or less agreed with his manager -- though using more diplomatic language. However, as a few folks are joyfully noting, it appears that the only one to blame for the leak of U2's most recent tracks may in fact be Bono himself. Apparently, someone was passing by Bono's beach villa in the south of France and heard the stereo playing incredibly loudly with new U2 tracks, so he recorded them and put them up on YouTube.

To be honest, this story has a lot of questionable elements to it, and little to back it up. So it could be entirely false. Even if it's true, it's difficult to see how the quality could be even halfway decent. Either way, though, it does show how silly it is to blame others. Instead, why not look to examples like Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails who have shown that when you control the leak, it can work to your advantage in a rather massive way?

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Filed Under: bono, leaks, paul mcguinness, u2

14 Comments

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jeroenw (profile), 18 Aug 2008 @ 4:26am

funny since there
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jeroenw (profile), 18 Aug 2008 @ 4:28am

funny since there's a product red ipod
And I do seem to recall that Bono was involved in that whole product red thing.
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Anonymous Coward, 18 Aug 2008 @ 5:05am

(red)acted
Just because you're a criminal doesn't mean you can't help save the world.
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adrian, 18 Aug 2008 @ 5:30am

Viral campaign?
I'd say yes. Enough said.
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wasnt me!, 18 Aug 2008 @ 5:42am

sounds like U2 realize best marketing would be the "fans" actually liking there music but they don't care to admit it.
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Chuck Norris' Enemy (deceased), 18 Aug 2008 @ 6:49am

Actual leak date
These songs were leaked years ago with the release of their Achtung Baby album. At least the songs all sound the same.=P
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Anonymous Coward, 18 Aug 2008 @ 8:01am

bono is the cunt of humanity. seriously, this guy is about as douchy as douche-bags get.
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simspace, 18 Aug 2008 @ 8:03am

McGuinness - stop whining...
...that's some of the best marketing for an upcoming release. It builds anticipation.

What? I'm not going to buy the album because I love the cell-phone quality audio with horns honking in the background? Gimme a break!

If nothing else it will get true U2 fans pumped. I know I am!
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IanK, 18 Aug 2008 @ 8:10am

The conclusion you try to make in this article is weak. I hate U2 as much as anybody who doesn't hate music, but to say that Bono himself was to blame for some leaked U2 tracks because he played music in his home is odd. The guy may be a douche-bag who wears weak, high-transmittance purple sunglasses both indoors and outdoors, but surely not even TechDirt can logically go from:

"Bono played music in his own house" --> "Bono is to blame, and he's silly for blaming others for piracy" --> "Bono could learn from Radiohead and NIN".

That's weak.
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Anonymous Coward, 18 Aug 2008 @ 8:55am

I agree; Bono is a waste of life and an insult to music as a whole. However, this is quite a stretch to suggest that he is responsible for the leak because some random guy recorded them from outside the property. I was really expecting to read that he irresponsible left a copy of the CD somewhere, or somehow accidently shared it in his kazaa porn directory.

This is quite a leap.
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Anonymous Coward, 18 Aug 2008 @ 9:11am

Re:
Irresponsibly playing his music loud enough to be recorded from off his property is more of a leap than irresponsibly leaving a CD laying around?

I was hoping to see something about how Bono uploaded them to a torrent site. I think saying Bono is to blame because he had his stereo up too loud is fair. If he's so concerned with his music not escaping you'd think he'd be more careful with unreleased songs.
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Mike (profile), 18 Aug 2008 @ 9:19am

Re:
However, this is quite a stretch to suggest that he is responsible for the leak because some random guy recorded them from outside the property.

Yes, that's why I said it seemed implausible in the post itself.

But the *point* is that leaks can come from all sorts of unexpected places -- and it's better to turn any "leaks" into your benefit rather than blaming others. That point stands.
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inmemoryofradio, 18 Aug 2008 @ 9:29am

I like Ben Fold's method of controlling leaks:

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/22595157/why_i_leaked_it_ben_folds_comes_clean_abou t_his_fake_and_real_new_album_way_to_normal
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Fushta, 18 Aug 2008 @ 12:03pm

Following Radiohead & NIN
If anyone should follow Radiohead & NIN with their strategies, it should be U2. They probably have one of the biggest fan bases worldwide. They would kill with a "name your own price" or "pay for extras" strategy.

They should fire their manager for holding them back.
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