Maybe, according to Fox rumormonger Roger Friedman. Word is that U2 is one of two outfits currently in negotiations for a deal with Live Nation that would be similar tothe 360-degree payday that Madonna scored last fall. The Bono-led band, which started out its career on Island Records and has put out records in the U.S. on Interscope, went triple-platinum in the States with its 2004 album How To Build An Atomic Bomb; Friedman’s tipster is claiming that the band’s contract with its label was either fulfilled by Bomb or the recently released remaster of The Joshua Tree.
If the Live Nation deal does come to pass, it’ll be interesting to see how U2’s recording career is handled by the company; they’re one of the few bands out there that can rake in the big bucks on tour and still sell a lot of records, although who knows how their album sales will fare in this year’s ever-decimated retail landscape. (Madonna still sells records, but I think her recorded-music profile is nowhere near as high as U2’s.) This year, according to manager Paul McGunness, U2 will release two albums: the music for the Julie Taymor-directed Spider-Man musical and a traditional rock album. If the deal does come to pass and the rumors of U2 being free from Universal Music Group’s clutches are true, questions of who will be responsible for the manufacturing and distribution of Live Nation-distributed albums will have to be answered a lot more quickly than when Madonna signed on, as she still has one album to put out with her soon-to-be-former label Warner Bros.
U2 May Be Next to Leave Record Biz [Fox News]
I got excited when I read “U2 is going to leave (the) Univers”.
Unfortunatly you had to got and ruin it with “al Music Group Behind?”, Maura.
I can’t believe that Spider-Man musical is real.
Damn! I hadn’t heard a peep about that Taymor/U2 “Spiderman” musical in months. I was hoping that the creators had all come down from their mescaline-and-LSD binge, realized how terrible their idea sounded, and quietly pulled the plug. But I was wrong, and now I get to have Julie Taymor shit all over ANOTHER iconic figure from my childhood (thanks for “Across The Universe”, you hack!).
@MickFNS: God help Bono if Kraven the Hunter is singing about Africa.
Why does Julie Taymor make it impossible for me to defend her? SPIDER-MAN MUSICAL??? Julie, I want to love you, but seriously, STOP IT.
Cumulatively, Madge beats U2 (U.S. certs: 63m vs. 51m), and she also kills them on greatest-hits tonnage - Immaculate Collection is one of the best-selling greatest-hits albums of all time, and it just keeps selling. None of those scattershot U2 comps has come close (although they make up for it by releasing a new half-assed hits album every couple of years, unlike her).
But recently, on studio albums, they pretty consistently beat her. Her highs are higher than theirs, but they haven’t experienced anything close to the lows she’s had this decade.
I can’t wait for the Spider-Man musical. Peter Parker and Uncle Ben will bring the house down singing “With Great Power (Comes Great Responsibility)”
@dennisobell: Are you including POP in those figures?
@Cos: Sure.
If your quip was meant to refer to my “anything close to the lows” comment, remember that Pop is a platinum-plus album that spawned two solid, if short-lived, Top 40 hits. Meanwhile, Madge’s low-seller, American Life, is certified platinum in name only (reportedly it did somewhere between 500K and 700K in sales, total) and spawned absolutely no meaningful radio hits. Both have had a shitty afterlife, but American Life’s is unquestionably shittier.
@dennisobell: Yeah, I should have clarified and said current recorded-music profile. Or, uh, something less awkwardly phrased than that!
They already did that damn Batman Bowie-ripoff song; now this. Awful. Although I can’t wait for the Post/Times cheeky “Will U2’s New Musical Be An Atomic Bomb?” etc., etc.
Ireland needs to break “the peace” so these guys can get back to writing about “the troubles” and make some music that matters again.
It’s so hip and cool to hate U2! Where do I sign up?! Oh, Urth Cafe? Thx XOXO
@Cos: POP was a “failure” that would be a success to most bands, as Dennisobell has pointed out. American Life was an out-and-out turd.