besides bands dont make money on cd sales, they make money on royalties.

i don’t exactly believe that illegal downloading is good, but i think cd prices should go way down considering how cheap it is to make the songs.
cd prices get jacked way up.
20 bucks for a new cd?
come onnn.

someone said there isn’t any good music coming out, do you even bother to look? get on emusic.com there’s loads of great music that isn’t being played on the radio. everyone is so stuck in the past. i love led zeppelin for example, but can’t the radio go more than 90 minutes w/ out playing them, give some other bands a chance!

does one voice even count

Is the issue here what they are making, or about what you are paying? Is it too much to ask that you get paid fairly for what you do? How much do you think U2 made on their first three albums? How much does it cost them to put on one of their extravaganza shows? Is 15-20 bucks too damn much to pay for something that will give you hours of enjoyment? You’ll pay 9 bucks for a movie you see once, but 18 is too much for an album you’ll listen to a hundred times, and give you countless memories. And remember the fight they put up probably doesn’t help them as much as it does the smaller artists who are trying to just keep their head above water. U2 can probably absorb the losses more than a band that is just starting out, but who is going to fight for them. Get over the concept that somehow you are entitled to free music, you aren’t. It costs more than money to create meaningful art, and hats off to a band that can still find the creative spark even after the financial hunger is gone. When a band says it is getting ripped off, the only question you need to ask yourself is “if I buy their album for the price they ask, did I get ripped off because the album sucked?” You freeriders have killed the music industry, and when all you get is crap, you’ll finally be getting the level of quality that you have unequivocally proved that you deserve. As Gabby Johnson says Ruh-Ruh

Maybe if the music that is being made was good and I dont mean a couple songs on a cd people would buy the cd and not be downloading songs because lately the music has not been that good to buy.I dont care for any of the new music coming out and I have bought through the years over 1000 cds but I dont now because I dont care for the music there coming out with,there has not been good music since the 70s,80s 90s and maybe some at the first part of 2000.If the people like all the songs on the cd they will buy it but if they dont than you have a problem,it is not fair to the consumer to buy a cd for one or 2 songs that are good on a cd and the rest are terrible.I no this for a fact because if you read forums and talk to the public about music now they dont like alot of the music coming out.

Sinn Féin TD Seán Crowe has expressed concern at the revelation that once again this year 1,000 children have been seen begging on the streets of Dublin. Deputy Crowe said, “Although this represents a significant decrease on last year’s figures, it is a scandal in this day and age that there are still 1,000 children begging on the streets of Dublin.”

Speaking in Dublin this morning he said:

“In the last year 1,000 children were seen begging on the streets of the capital and, although this represents a significant decrease on last year’s figures, it is a scandal that it continues at all in this day and age. The ISPCC have attributed most the decrease to the policy of criminalising parents who allow their children to beg.

“The policy is a short-term stopgap measure which ignores the bigger problem of child poverty. It is a outrage that up to 250,000 children in this state are living in poverty and that so many are living on the streets. The solution is not to sweep this problem under the carpet by hiding it from the public. The problem needs to be tackled head on. - 2006.

I’m a loyal U2 fan for over 25 years. Bought them on vinyl, tape, again on CD, then again on u2 ipod and download through itunes…But I want some of what Paul McGuinness is smoking? Has he gone completely off the deep end with that draconian speech? He’s lost it. Where are Bono, Edge, Adam and Larry in the news blogosphere.? Cat got your tongue? I don’t want ISP’s sniffing around my computer. It’s going to happen anyway but I don’t want it.
I love when Bono says in his speeches “We come from Punk Rock” and “We’re rich spoiled rock stars, and I’d do this even if I wasn’t getting paid”….yeah right. I work in technology and McGuinness talks about the end of the “songwriter”. Give me a break. Been to MySpace lately…they have song writers coming out of their ass…too many choices. I thought art wasn’t ONLY about the money.
F*C& U2….you and Paul McGuinness.
You have lost a 25 year long loyal and “paying customer”

To a few people who said that U2 were building a tower, in “poverty stricken” Dublin, obviously haven’t been to Dublin in the last 20 years.
We have one of the highest standards of living in the world.

And what does it matter, how they invest their money. Bono could invest in shares, and noone would care.
As soon as he invests in high end property, he’s a hypocrit.

And the final nail in the coffin -
Irish band U2 has stirred up controversy in Dublin over their planned 200 million dollar skyscraper. The massive structure will include a recording studio for the band and high end apartments ranging in price from $300,000 to 1 million dollars. Long time local Dubliners are concerned over the tearing down of historic buildings to make room for the, as one Dublin resident described it, “Vegas style eyesore”. Locals in Dublin’s chronically poverty striken areas also complain the new tower will block their view of their beloved river, one of the few bright spots in their living conditions. The band had no comment.
WELL ! WELL ! so to sum up - Bono the great defender of poverty and poor living conditions throughout the world will soon become a landlord to 1 million dollar apartment owners, lol. CAN YOU SEE THE IRONY. One of Bono’s biggest complaints is poor or no housing in the third world….CAN YOU SEE THE IRONY. Be very careful who you idolize, adoration is a very dangerous business, ask 1929 Berlin, or America under George W. Bush, that noted War Hero.

pm:
“Kids don’t pay $25 a month for broadband just to share their photos, do their homework and email their pals”

what a moron this guy is. so the only three things you can do on PC are homework, share photo’s and download illegal music Paul? are you saying everyone who has high speed has it to download illegal music? idiot.

i’ll tell you what, i have no problems downloading some music first for a listen before i go out and pay for it on itunes or buy the cd. they sure as hell dont play the songs on the radio anymore. not in new york at least.

The guest list included Sting and his wife, Trudy Styler, Bono and his family, designers Donatella Versace and Alberta Ferretti, actress Gina Lollobrigida, tenor Jose Carreras and Italian soccer star Alessandro Del Piero.

After the ceremony, well-wishers tossed rice on the smiling newlyweds as they ducked out of the theater and into a waiting car.

The couple and their 500 or so guests continued the festivities in a tented reception at a nearby park, where they were greeted with flutes of Dom Perignon champagne and hors d’oeuvres of caviar, mozzarella and tomato and salami and prosciutto, witnesses said.

At one point during the reception, Bono took to the microphone and sang, the witnesses said

Wife-less U2 frontman Bono soaks in the sun with two lovely ladies — actress Penelope Cruz and former supermodel Helena Christensen — on Thursday at the Club 55 harbor in Saint Tropez, France.

Bono is one lucky man!!

The trio was seen leaving the VIP Room at 4AM looking very friendly with each other. Bono, 47, was seen taking them each by the hand and helping them board their private boat. The weather down there looks spectacular!!

I don’t see why a band should be criticized for being smart on the business end. So you’re saying U2 should’ve booked larger venues they knew they couldn’t fill up and take a loss? Would you honestly do that as a manager Dan? And Vexx Resa, it’s not like U2 started out as these millionaire rock stars. They struggled just as anyone else in the very beginning to the middle period of their career. Almost every tour they put on, they either took a loss or just broke even. Bottom line, U2 are a great band that deserves the credit for writing such great songs and being great performers. Even as a fan I can say that when they are off, they’re off and some of the things Bono has said or done, I wince at and wan to slap him about. But all that aside they are a classic band and Paul McGuinness is a great manager and one of the biggest reasons for their long lasting success. His argument from what i can gather is simply for all parties involved to accept responsibility for their roll in the illegal distributing music: consumers, ISPs, LABELS(!), and artists themselves.

Yes, illegal downloading definitely hurts new bands just starting out, but has little impact on a band like U2,who on their last tour had $160 tickets,and deliberately booked themselves into hockey arenas instead of football stadiums,so their shows would sell out in less than 60 minutes,so that way they were always assured of demand for tickets exceeding the ticket supply.Whatever money U2 lost on illegal downloads,they made up for on concert ticket price gouging.

u2 , shut up!
lets tell the the whole story, once upon a time there was a great act, a great band, and they sold some cds and made lots of fans, so does that mean i have to automatically BUY EVERYTHING you put out just because its your NEXT CD ???

NOT!!!

I alone decide what is quality to my ears and crappy cds shouldnt end up on my credit card bill… why should i finance debt to buy junky music? So sampling and deciding for oneself if the music is good its good to buy seems logical to me.

In the end i buy commercial production CDs for artists, just became a lot more picky bout which ones tho and what albums, and that , seems fair.

why should i buy some junk i will never listen to?? how fair is that

I really don’t even give a damn about downloading, it’s a kid thing, kids with IPOD’s downloading Justin Timberlake and Fitty Cent songs, the music industry will survive. What was so annoying was plutocrats like U2 and their manager crying poverty over downloads, they probably got together with their team of gold plated lawyers, all 63 of them and found they were losing 3 percent of their fortune to downloads, “This must be stopped ! We need those fur sinks in our U2 tower !” We’re in the age of false gods, vacant celebrities we see as oracles, pfff. It’s ridiculous. One guy even doubting that Paul McGuinness would lower himself to read a Rolling Stone blog, lol. I guess Paul hovers over us magically in a rare zone, not even ever hearing of the very obscure Rolling Stone magazine. U2 is a silly pop band, nothing else, and a very pretentious pop band at that, there success is due more to keen marketing than any inherent talent. Bono is a phoney, his stance is a pose, and yes, i’ve help build 3 houses in my hometown and volunteer. And of course this “We’re jusy trying to help those poor new bands coming up” is COMPLETE bullshit. It’s a cover adopted by wealthy bands. Be your own hero, turn off the TV, do you check to see who Lindsay Lohan endorses for president before voting ? I read Jessica Alba is a McCain fan, I guess I should vote for him. “I’m just a regular person, I eat, I shit, i’m just like you” - John Lennon
I’ve got more important things to do, au revoir……….

u2 is one of the best bands in the world and i admire them very much! for those who are living with there heads in the sand ,don’t jump to fast into conclusions ,they are working hard and trying to help those unfortunate .how many of you or your politicians are doing something to help others,instead of eating pizza and hamburgers and scraching your asses, while you’re lying on your comfy sofas? hypocrisy is your perfect mask that you should wear all the time.

U2ube,
This argument is rooted in PM’s speech whose focus was on the fact that illegal downloading and the avenues which perpetuate it should be curtailed so the rightful owners of that content get their fair royalty. How many times do I have to reitterate that it does not matter what the financial position of an artist is in, whether he/she be a millionaire or a struggling musician? If their created work is being given away or being taken WITHOUT their consent, ie illegally, they loose money and it will immediately or in the long run affect their liveliehood. Music is a business, full stop. No sound business is set up to take any loss. PM criticizes but also encourages ISPs to be crative and set up ways where everyone benefits, especially the songwriter since they are the creators of their work. What they do with their cash(moving it, spending it, however questionable) in no way conflicts with the fact that they, the owners of the content, deserve to paid and to be cut in to royalties that are lost and otherwise owed to them through illegal means of distribution of their work.

Drika- Do you have any idea how much time, effort, and money it takes to create and record the song. You want that work to given away for free?! That makes no sense. Music is a product just like anything else. Constant touring? What about bands with families and people they have to support. Touring can be extremely grueling and can no doubt wreak havok on an artist’s personal life.

for u2ube,i think that one should talk about the quality of music and not where there from.you have to stop being a narrow minded american and be thankful that other people accept your crap.

“Preventing the poorest of the poor from selling their products while we sing the virtues of the free market … that’s a justice issue,” Bono said at a prayer breakfast attended by President Bush, Jordan’s King Abdullah, and various members of Congress earlier this year. Preaching this sort of thing has made Bono a perennial candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize. He continued:

Holding children to ransom for the debts of their grandparents … that’s a justice issue. Withholding life-saving medicines out of deference to the Office of Patents … that’s a justice issue.

And relocating your business offshore in order to avoid paying taxes to the Republic of Ireland, where poverty is higher than in almost any other developed nation? Bono’s hypocrisy seems even more naked when you consider that Ireland is a tax haven for artists. In June 2005, Bono (who was born in Dublin) told the Belfast Telegraph:

Our publishing, which is about one third of our income, we have tax breaks on, and that’s great and that’s encouraged us to stay in Ireland and if that changes, it’s not going to affect anything for U2. …

Six months later, Ireland’s finance minister announced a ceiling of $319,000 on tax-free incomes, and six months after that, U2 opened its Amsterdam office. The relocation of U2’s music publishing will halve taxes on the band’s songwriting royalties, which already reportedly total $286 million. Although Bono has declined to comment on the move, the band’s lead guitarist, David “the Edge” Evans, said, “Of course we’re trying to be tax-efficient. Who doesn’t want to be tax-efficient?’” Writing in the Observer, Nick Cohen noted that Evans “sounded as edgy as a plump accountant in the 19th hole.”

U2’s tax-shelter scheme caused an uproar in Ireland when the story broke there in August. But it’s scarcely raised a ripple in the United States. A conservative would argue that’s because in this country, we don’t begrudge a man the opportunity to keep what he earns off the sweat of his brow (or even off the sweat of someone else’s brow ) … even if that man spends half his time trying to goad governments into spending more to alleviate poverty. But a liberal could answer that in the United States, we are so used to seeing rich people avoid taxation that even a wealthy hypocrite who shelters his cash abroad can no longer qualify as news.

I love this forum! A bunch of people talking shit like they know Bono, U2, and Paul McGuinness personally!

You’re right “Uh huh”, God forbid anyone try to look out for someone else in this business. Which is why it’s such a shitty business. Artists SHOULD BE looking out for other artists, just like people should be looking out for other people. But they’re not. Everyone just looks out for themselves, which is pretty much the whole philosophy behind illegal downloading. Screw the artist, up with ME!!!

“Uh huh”: spend just a few minutes less on the internet each day and devote that time to spelling. County FAIR.

They can cry their eyes out but the real fact is that music should be free, because it’s impossible to take back the control of it.
The bands allowed this state of things, they let their music on the hands of the record companies.
They made wathever they wanted for decades and now it’s time for a change.
Are you short of money gentlemen? What if you go to the road and make more shows? You don’t really need the huge hiper maxi production, tickets can be cheaper and I’m sure that the audience will love to see live what they have just downloaded back home…

look, bottom line, managers need money too, and they don’t really earn it anymore, they just collect from their bands…

a REAL band (like theoutsideworld.ca) doesn’t NEED management because they know the industry. money they earn by selling cd’s goes directly to them, not a manager or a label.

so… at the end of the day, all mp3’s and downloading have done is empower the artist, AND it’s cut out the middle-men…

so… basically, paul can kiss my butt, cuz, unless he wrote a song, he should earn money from a BAND.

ALL LABELS AND ALL MUSIC BUSINESS WILL BOW TO THE OUTSIDE WORLD!!!!!!!

I’m a huge U2 fan, but McGuinness used China’s Great Wall of Censorship as an example of how it could be done. Nice.

The only way it’s technologically possible for ISP’s or the government to block downloads is for them to block all unknown encrypted traffic. That’s what China does. So you’re left with no privacy for anything: email, VOIP phone calls, pictures, medical records, anything!

I’m sure McGuinness didn’t understand all that, but he needs to.

Hypothetically speaking…let’s just assume someone like Shawn Fanning invented some form of transportation teleporter (like in star trek) while messing around in his dorm one day. Let’s go one step further and say that by fluke it was actually quite easy and inexpensive to build. So much so that everyone goes out and gets one. What happens next? Well for starters, trucks, cars, container ships, an entire trillion dollar industry is rendered obsolete…yeah the industry watch dogs bicker about it…but why would anyone continue to go that direction when there is something far simpler and more direct out there. Illegal downloads may be a problem, but the medium that is out there today is simply a more efficient system that the people have adopted and grown accustomed to. It’s the Managers like this guy that strike me as longing for the old days…move on and think of something creative…that’s all you can do at this point.

“It’s U2’s manager, it has nothing to do with U2 the band, or Bono.”

- Well, U2 hired the jerkoff. Guilty by association.

ummm, i’m not a U2 fan, but i have to laugh at how people completely forget who the person in the article is about. It’s U2’s manager, it has nothing to do with U2 the band, or Bono. Its funny how easy it is to push hatred towards a band because it is so easy to do so.

U2ube,
It’s “mmd”I f you or anyone reads his speech, PM’s concern is for the ARTIST recieving his due royalty regardless of his position or status. It’s a business. Its only ethical that a musician gets paid for what he/she creates, like any business that produces a product. Have you ever created something which has been stolen or money owed to you has been lost? Not a good feeling. Fuck labels, I care about the songwriter, which is who PM is talking about. Yeah I understand your cynicism towards “billionaires” and their “empires.” But honestly you have to get over this idea that people with money are all bad or don’t do positive things with the wealth they have gained or that they don’t deserve what they worked so hard for. That’s totally being jaded. Bono is telling and inspiring everyone to act and get involved for specific causes and positive results have been attained. He is the first to admit it’s not even close 100% but it’s moving in the right direction and I feel he’s sincere with his effort because his dedication is there. His money alone wont save people in Africa. That’s a foolish notion. Philanthropy has to be a continuous and collective effort.That’s what he’s pushing for. I personally don’t care about his “tower” in Dublin. Is that going to cancel out his vast humanitarian effort and the band’s music? Not to me. I’m curious. What’s your opinion on John Lennon? He was an activist but a multimillionaire. Does that make him an asshole or a charlatan for caring about issues? He didn’t do half the things Bono has done politically.

And Richard, Radiohead would be no where without U2. Radiohead has sited “The Unforgettable Fire” as a huge influence on their music. And they have worked together on being politically active.

I’m not a U2 fan, but that’s besides the point.

Paul McGuiness is completely right.

And for those who think illegal downloading isn’t stealing..? You’re completely deluding yourself. Look up the definition on STEALING in the dictionary, you twits.

Copyright law deserves to be taken seriously. All these BS excuses as to why it’s ok to steal, none of which hold up to scrutiny.

u2 equal greed. Like they care!
God, i wish U2 would look at Radiohead and see a class band

When you’re U2’s manager and you cry poverty over downloading you’re gonna get alot of flak. Billionares can’t expect much sympathy over losing a fraction of their empire. And if your name is Bono you should be careful presenting yourself as “The Great Philanthropist” and never dropping a dime of your own money to help anyone stuck in poverty. Bono can help with poverty in one way - Use his vast wealth. He’s not an economist or socioligist. The new U2 tower in Dublin includes “lavish apartments”, mm uhh. Why not stop complaining about losing money from downloading and use the tower money to ACTUALLY HELP people living in poverty Paul McGuinness and Bono ??

And psssst, “mmb”, i’m 4 years younger than the members of U2, you can add ageism to your list of hatred

“Money stopped coming to the artists?” I’m sure U2 has a great royalty rate, but for most bands, that money never goes to the artist in the first place. The labels can eat a dick.

“Cocksucker” , lol. Kinda blew any integrity in your argument there didn’t ya “mmd”. I’d love to hear your ideas about race and women also, sure they’re just as enlightning.
Listen, when you’re the manager of U2 and cry poverty over dowloading you’re gonna get alot of crap over it, no one has any sympathy for billionares whining about losing a fraction of their fortune. And Bono presenting himself as The Great Philanthropist ? PLEAAAAAAASE !! He’s never dropped a penny to help a single soul. He’s got 500 Mill stuffed in his pocket and berates governments for being idle on poverty, pfff. 2 days after speaking at the UN Bono was photographed at a Versace fashion show which also included guests like Paris Hilton and the Olsen twins, nufff said.

Oh thy GREAT Paul McGiunness would never LOWER himself to rub elbows with us LOOOOWLY surfs, lol. What a goof you are “Uh”. You’re an “artist, uh huh, play $ 40 gigs at your local county fare ?
Listen, this “Oh we’re only really looking out for those poor young bands just starting out, it’s the only reason we bring up downloading”. PFFFFFFFFFF !!!
They’re watching their own wallets, no one looks out for each other, especailly in the cut throat music bizzzzzz…..

Two You,
Are you on fucking crack?! When you download someone’s song you now own a copy of that song, regardless of media! It’s a piece of work, a product that’s created and that probably took major cash to produce, taxing the artist on all fronts, much like a film, a book,a concert, a computer, furniture, clothes, etc. I agree with you that labels are the scum of the earth, but until YOU actually MAKE something and try to make a living off of it, you’ll never understand what the artist has to go through.

As if Paul McGuinness has nothing better to do than just cruise the Rolling Stone forums to find out what’s on the minds of America’s fascinating youth.

Uh isn’t in a crappy garage band who’s worried about illegal downloading wiping out his/her future earnings anything. Uh works for a living, is an artist, understands the value of copyrighted work, and knows the difference between right and wrong, legal and illegal.

“It’s stealing. Since when is stealing okay?”

Its not stealing. If I buy a CD I have/own a physical product. If I download (legally or illegally), I own nothing. So, I’m not willing to pay for it. Simple as that.

I especially don’t pay to download music from these crappy pseudo-fad online retailers like iTunes (Steve jobs is a COCK) because they are charging the same price for a physical product that is compressed and sounds like crap. Oh yeah, and its crippled with DRM (easily circumvented, but thats besides the point).

Fuck these bands and fuck the scumbag record companies. If they want to make money, let them make it by earning their dues by going on tour (you know, WORK for a living like everyone else) or by selling merchandise. No one owes these whiney little bitches anything.

What is the difference between walking into a music store and stealing a CD and downloading it without paying for it?

It’s stealing. Since when is stealing okay?

Various governments should tax us more, and rock music should be funded by the state!!! Of course, this probably means which groups are funded would also be decided by special interest groups, but…

I’m actually not serious. I think you’d have to be an idiot to pay for something you could get for free. It’s not about morality or feeling sorry for musicians that can’t cut it without another job, this is most likely a paradigm shift. If it happens, everyone still paying for music will be a bunch of idiots. If it doesn’t, everyone downloading music for ‘free’ will be rounded up as pirates.

One more thing. READ McGuiness’s speech please instead of guessing what he has to say. He criticizes every one especially the record labels. His primary concern is for the songwriter.

People taking advantage of those naive angelic record companies !
“Record companies are the same as they’ve always been - a pool of viscious pirannah’s” * Keith Richards, 2007.

Its unbelievable how cheap, spoiled and utterly ignorant consumers have become. So what if U2 is wealthiest band on this planet? They wrote and performed those songs and should be granted their continiuing financial reward regardless of how much they have already made. THEY CREATED THEIR MUSIC!!Music and art in general is a business. Any businessman successful or struggling will tell you that if their goods or products are being stolen through avenues without their consent and at poorer quality, then they incur a huge loss regardless how much money they currently have in the bank. Paul Mcguiness was also speaking not only on behalf of U2, but for all bands and artists at any level. After 30 years in the industry I would trust his forsight over the whining and bitter fodder who jump on the “Let’s hate U2 just cause…” bandwagon. U2 have always championed underground music and have helped to get those artists known, and they should be respected for that. To people like “Swingline” (talk about being bitter!), Whitney, and U2ube(you’re the unltimate Cocksucker not only becaause you are old and jaded but because Bono has in fact visited Third World countries and knows what he’s talking about. Just ask all the world leaders, developing and third world, US politicians, Harvard professors who may not even agree with him, but admire him for his understanding of the issues on the ground, in theory,and for his relentless activism)if you created something that people enjoyed and needed, wouldn’t you want to reap the rewards of your labor. To say one is too wealthy to keep getting credit financially for his work is just plain stupid and dumb business. Even the National will tell you that NkB, you hipster douche bag.

Actually something tells me “Uh” is none other than Paul McGuinness

i too believe that downloading isnt as good for the artist as it is good for the fans,however i dont believe that the illegal downloading will be stopped so soon for it serves the interests of others and as long as other people make more money of it the artists dont stand a chance in this battle….

Well gotta pay for that tower in Dublin somehow, eh?

f*** those pompus a-holes. Even though I hate U2 I’m going to download and seed their stuff from a torrent just because I can.

Something tells me “Uh” is in a crappy garage band and see’s his/her future earnings being wiped out. The cost of producing a CD is 40 CENTS. 40 CENTS !! Making a vinyl record used to cost $ 2. CD’s have always been a complete rip off. Kids don’t buy “albums” anymore anyway, it’s the real reason for the drop in CD sales, they prefer loading single songs into their I-Pods.

Again, this isn’t about U2 or Paul McGuinness. It’s about illegal downloading of copyrighted music without consent from the artist or label. What part of illegal is hard to understand? You think just because you’re doing it over the internet, it’s less wrong? What kind of reasoning is that?

I’m a huge u2 fan for two dacades. Really love their music. I have bought several of their last singles that had only one b-side (not even a new song but a mix). I had paid 6 euro for each! Wouldn’t downloading the next one would feel like geting some of my money’s worth? What ever happened to “All I need is my red guitar, the tree cords and the truth” anyhow?

i’m very wary of bono. he’s definitely on the council of the devil when they put americans and europeans and pretty much any of the world’s people in little boxes where they gay them if they don’t think properly. bono is the devil himself, and i assure you he’s gonna be a lot worse than hitler, stalin, and chairman mao combined

Last time I checked free books were available, believe the word was LIBRARY. And last time I checked the publishing giants still were rolling in money….

Bono’s endless supply of racquetball safety sunglasses alone must cost him $ 100,000 a year ! Damn you thieves stealing from his narrow pockets !
Funny how Bono shames world leaders for not helping third world countries while he vacations in $ 10,000 a night hotels and builds a tower in tribute to his own Bono-ness in his beloved Ireland where crushing poverty lives in the streets.
I didn’t buy this guys act 20 years ago and I still see right through it.
It’s the ultimate put your money where your mouth is. Maybe spend more time actually visiting third world countries and less time canoodling with Penelope Cruz on white beaches in the south of France. Dick.

They don’t stand a chance.

paying for something or getting it for free? hmmm…let me wrap my brain around that….

I don’t want my ISP poking into everything I download just so U2 can have money. I agree that artists have a right to be paid for their work, but is U2 really the right spokespeople for that cause? If you love a band–and I know there are rabid U2 fans out there–you’ll probably buy their CD anyway. I’d be more sympathetic to a relatively unknown band like The Teeth or The National saying they need to be paid for their work–and yet, those bands seem to support online downloads and even have free downloads on their websites. Hmmm, how weird is that? Big band angry and grinding teeth over free internet downloads, small bands happy and supportive of it? That doesn’t seem to support their argument that EVERY SINGLE DOWNLOAD needs to be monitored so they can be paid for it so they don’t starve.

And btw, the Radiohead download wasn’t free–even if you didn’t want to pay anything for it, there was still a service charge for downloading it that equalled about 3 USD.

Every hear of net neutrality?

Music is art the same way cinema, painting etc… People pay plenty of money for paintings, $10.00 to go see the latest movie at theater (cloverfield), and why not pay $15.00 for the latest release by a band like radiohead? 80% of cheap people who domloaded their music did not pay one penny. If there is money to be made from any art form, the artist should receive the most from it’s sale period. It’s not about how much money U2 has made up this point which they deserve. It’s about all other musicians who are not as wealthy as U2 who are getting shafted by freeloaders.

Just because you want to continue stealing music doesn’t mean Paul McGuinness or U2 are wrong. Why shouldn’t artists and their managers make moves to protect their work? Artists should get paid for what they do. You shouldn’t be able to illegally download music. You should have to pay for it!

Just because you want to continue stealing music doesn’t mean Paul McGuinness or U2 are wrong. Why shouldn’t artists and their managers make moves to protect their work? Artists should get paid for what they do. You shouldn’t be able to illegally download music. You should have to pay for it! Try applying this same logic to other goods and services. I want this TV…hey, I’ll just steal it. Sorry, that’s not the way things work.

he is speaking for all artists large and small, it is good for everyone, they have enough clout for people to listen, much more than the little bands that it effects much more, use your heads you idiots

In a NY Times online article dated Feb. 4,2007. It stated “As of last year,U2 had amassed a net worth of 629 million euros,(around 908 million dollars),according to the annual rich list of top earners in The Sunday Times of Britain”.

Nobody forces people to become rock stars.
The last time I checked, the phrase has never been “Sex, Drugs, Rock n Roll, and Sound Business Ethics”.
If you get the Sex, Drugs, Rock n Roll, and get paid for it, NO SYMPATHY.

mcguinness might be right, but he needs to champion someone other than a filthy rich band like u2 to give his cause anything remotely sounding like credibility…

Nobody is forcing these people to be in rock bands. If the business around them is shady, that’s their problem for choosing that lifestyle.
The phrase was never titled “Sex, Drugs, Rock and Roll, and Sound Business Ethics”.
Right or wrong, the last people who need sympathy are those being paid to do what they love.

NOTHING to do with the band or their money…but rather do you want your ISP poking into every bit of data that transfers in and out of your computer?

It’s such a shame that his message is ridiculed because he just so happens to work for one of the world’s wealthiest bands.

But the fact of the matter is, Paul McGuinness is completely right.

Hey Bono, Lars called - He wants his cause back.

Sob and a single tear. How ever will they be able to pay the utilities on their 4th and 5th vacation houses?
And I thought the working world had it tough, now I know what real suffering is.

Maybe they could save some money by not building that luxury skyscraper in Ireland.

Well Morgan,if people keep stealing music, count on ticket prices going higher than that.

Is being great at business making sure most young people can never afford to go to one of their concerts?

Oh those poor poor penniless Irish lads !!!!! Pfffff….

This might sound more sincere coming from a band that does NOT charge more than $100 a ticket OR a fortune for its reissues.