Yesterday Irish rock band U2 made an “unexpected announcement” it is giving away for free their new 11-song album “Songs of Innocence” to over 500 million iTunes users in conjunction with an Apple “unveiling event” in California with Apple CEO Tim Cook on hand, according to the Associated Press, which failed to note whatever it was that Apple was “unveiling.” The album will be available to “everyone else” in mid-October.
500 million current iTunes users will be able to download a new 11-song album by one of the world’s most financially successful rock bands for free. Songs on iTunes generally go for 99 cents a piece, or around ten bucks per album. If 5% of current iTunes users download the full album for free, that would presumably be worth over $250 million dollars in revenue.
What kind of company and rock band can afford to give away over a quarter billion dollars in revenue as a mere promotional gimmick? And what is the true nature of the economy and corporate culture, not to mention the products they would like to sell to consumers under that kind of business model?
Is there a connection between those incorporeal zeros and ones that make up a compressed audio coding format, and the value of any fiat currency used to purchase something that has been described as deliberately engineered audio deterioration from “psychoacoustic auditory masking”?
Furthermore, it is curious when Bono, lead singer of one of the world’s most financially successful rock bands, tells Rolling Stone magazine that he wanted to make an album to “try to figure out why [he] wanted to be in a band.”
The Brian Boggess Group will enter the studio fall 2014 to record their upcoming second independent national vinyl record release and first full album on Midnight Snack Records. It will be recorded onto 2″ tape using analog tube amps and mixing board. All music will be performed by human beings that know why they want to be in a band. The Brian Boggess Group’s second album will not be available on iTunes, Amazon, or from Starbucks, and it will not be available for free. However, you will be able to put the 12″ vinyl record on a turntable, have a smoke, and let the music set you free. The choice is yours. Now more than ever.
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