U2 and Apple iPod: Paint it Black
25 years. 25 years of club hopping, number 1 hits, concerts and national headlines.
25 years, and U2, making a massive comeback with their new single "Vertigo", has never licensed their music for any type of commercial use.
But all that, suddenly, has made a drastic change. For the better? Who knows. But for sure its pretty damn cool for my favorite Irish Band.
A recent press conference featuring U2's Bono and The Edge a la acoustic, had them hammering out two new songs "Original of the Species" and "All Because of You"What was the press conference for?
The fact that after 25 years of sheltering their music from any type of commercial use, U2 has partnered with Apple to release a Limited Edition U2 iPod
(jet black with red buttons) with the Band members names laser engraved on the back. 
A $349 US Dollar unit. Buyers of that, get a $50 discount on the purchase of "The Complete U2" download package from Apple (cost $149 US Dollars) that includes over 400 songs as well as an exclusive U2 poster and, of course, the signature white iPod earbuds.
Wow.
For hardcore U2'ers, this isn't a shock. Back in 2003 Band members met with Steve Jobs at the home of Jimmy Iovine, the Co-Chairman of U2's Record Label, Interscope Records.
"Jimmy is a visionary and believes artists should meet with technologists.", says Bono at a recent interview.
The rest of us are still dumbfounded. 25 years, no commerical usage, and for that matter they have never even accepted a tour sponsorship! Very few artists have stuck it out to keep from "selling out". R.E.M. for example.
But with radio playlists strictly formatted, and MTV showing more reality garbage many bands are looking for new ways to go public. So what does U2 do?
They launce the first single from their upcoming album, "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb" via a iPod ad, rather than a video.
U2 didn't even get a single dime for the ad, however they will get a portion of the profits from the sale of their custom iPod.
Many artists are moving to endorce iPod, iRock or other MP3's style download players. But this is the first actual partnership involving hardware.
Will it help U2 with their comeback?
Who knows? After all the band has already sold over 120 million records worldwide. Its an established act on Radio, TV and video. "Vertigo" is currently No. 1 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart. Nor does it mark the band's only foray into alternative means of album promotion. The song "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own"from the new album, will be featured in the Dec. 2 episode of Fox's popular show The O.C.and "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" will reportedly use two songs in upcoming episodes.
Some however think it will do well for the new generation of listeners.
"Whenever your the first to do something, theres a hipness factor," says Bob Chiappardi, President of Concrete Marketing. "Its a win-win situation."
Meanwhile Band members of U2 are passionate proponets of the deal.
"Its the most intresting art object since the elctric guitar in terms of music", says Bono.
Its enough to make me wish I had the money to buy one.