U2 set to explode worldwide
Lili2
LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - U2 has sold more than 120 million albums worldwide
and won 14 Grammy Awards during the course of its 26-year career, so you would
think that there would be a level of ease that comes with a new release.
Not so, says the Irish band's longtime manager Paul McGuinness.
"There is absolutely no resting on our laurels," he tells Billboard. "I say to
people we have to break the band every time we put out a record."
And this is with an album that McGuinness expects to debut at No. 1 in "32 or
33 countries."
"How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb" comes out Nov. 22 internationally on Island,
and Nov. 23 in the United States on Interscope, which is initially shipping 2.2
million copies.
The only stumbling block that might keep the album from entering The Billboard
200 at No. 1 is labelmate Eminem (news - web sites)'s new set, "Encore."
However, McGuinness expects the advance of the street date for "Encore" from
Nov. 16 to Nov. 12 to work in U2's favor.
ALWAYS ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
Early reports that this is the best effort from the band -- Bono, the Edge,
Larry Mullen Jr. and Adam Clayton -- since 1987's "The Joshua Tree" suit
McGuinness just fine.
"The group's always trying to beat their previous best," he says. "They went
into (their career) to do it as long as they could be great and then stop.
They're like a championship holder. They hold the title, and they're not going
to give it away. If someone wants to come and take it away, they'll have to
fight them for it."
But this time at least, McGuinness feels that the job is a little easier since
the band is coming off 2000's "All That You Can't Leave Behind," which sold
10.8 million copies worldwide and snared several Grammy Awards.
"With that record's launch, we were coming off a comparative flop," he says,
referring to 1997's "Pop." "Mind you, it still did 7 or 8 million, but in our
terms, that's not very good."
"Pop" sold 1.5 million copies in the United States, according to Nielsen
SoundScan. "All That You Can't Leave Behind" sold 4.2 million Stateside.
Key to continuing U2's success is taking the record to "young recruits," as
McGuinness refers to them. "If we can't break at modern rock (radio), we would
regard this as a failure."
No such worries. "Vertigo" has topped the Billboard Modern Rock chart for four
weeks, the Heritage Rock Chart for six weeks and Billboard Radio Monitor's
Triple-A chart for seven weeks. All this is in addition to debuting at No. 1 on
the U.K. singles chart.
Interscope is also reaching out to the teen audience by advertising on such
youth-oriented outlets as MTV, MTV2, Fuse and various extreme-sports programs,
label marketing executive Paul Kremen says. It also hired teen marketing firm
Moxie to distribute 25,000 stickers to high schools and coordinate other
grassroots efforts.
The album was serviced to radio via digital download Nov. 11. The band and the
label will look at radio's reaction to the album to aid in picking subsequent
singles. Unlike "Vertigo," which was the first single worldwide, McGuinness
says he expects the next few singles to vary by market.
APPLE AT THE CORE
The core of the early push centered on a promotion with Apple Computer that
launched with the Cupertino, Calif.-based company featuring "Vertigo" in its
ubiquitous iPod/iTunes TV commercial.
"Apple is spending $20 million worldwide on the U2 commercials," McGuinness
says.
Kremen believes that the Apple ads, which feature the band performing in
silhouette, "helped create a really quick appetite" for the song, especially
among U2's upper demos. "What ignites them is multiple impressions," he says.
"And Apple gave us that. We could never afford that on our own." The "Vertigo"
single was available exclusively through iTunes in the United States.
Additionally, the Apple/U2 partnership includes a special-edition iPod,
available in mid-November. The black iPod, which holds 5,000 songs and costs
$349, features a red click wheel and is laser autographed by U2's four members.
Another component of Apple's deal is a digital collection of more than 400 U2
songs, including about 25 previously unreleased or rare tracks. The digital
set, which includes the new album and an elaborate PDF artwork file, sells for
$149 on iTunes. However, the special iPod includes a coupon for $50 off the
set.
The relationship between U2 and Apple could lead to the group's shows being
available for download from the iTunes Music Store. The band's worldwide tour
starts March 1, 2005 in Florida.
U2 is paying as much attention to traditional retail as to online sales by
offering three editions of the set. The CD in a standard jewel case, or "the
paperback version," as McGuinness calls it, retails for $13.98 in the United
States. A deluxe CD/DVD package, with a documentary and five videos on the DVD,
sells for $24.98, while the premium, limited-edition version (175,000 copies),
which combines the CD and DVD with a hardback U2 book, is $39.98. The 70-page
book carries artwork, paintings and graphics by the band.
"We thought one of the reasons the music business was losing out to
peer-to-peer file sharing was that people had stopped making the record and its
packaging a beautiful object to entice people back to the stores," McGuinness
says.
Despite the effort, U2 was not able to keep the album from leaking to
file-sharing services two weeks prior to its release. McGuinness and Interscope
talked about moving up the in-store date but opted not to. "We thought, 'Let's
not panic,"' McGuinness says. Reuters/Billboard