New u2 album

JimsAlterEgo

Given that they are giving it awat for free on Itunes, wondering what legalities are "obtaining" it from other sources.

notmymark

I would be nearly sure it’s the same as every other album. It’s only available free to iTunes customers for a period of time before its wider release where everyone else can get it (for a price).

Anyway it’s my understanding that it’s not free from U2s point of view.... essentially Apple are paying U2 and not the customer.

Hogzy

JimsAlterEgo wrote: »

Given that they are giving it awat for free on Itunes, wondering what legalities are "obtaining" it from other sources.

Im purely speculating here but I would imagine Apple have an exclusive distribution agreement for the time being. Obtaining the album via other sources would probably be in breach of that agreement and therefore you dont have the permission of the Author to obtain it. Therefore its a breach of Copyright.

ScouseMouse

JimsAlterEgo wrote: »

Given that they are giving it awat for free on Itunes, wondering what legalities are "obtaining" it from other sources.

But its not "free". Another way of looking at it is Apple have gifted it to you. I am sure they have paid U2 for it. Nothing is free in this life.

EunanMac

Clever move by U2, the real money is to be made in concerts now.

Honest people can get it off itunes for free, the rest will get it the way they were always going to get it.

Expect a big U2 tour next summer.

Spudzzmurphy

Not a big U2 fan,but I must say I do like this album a hell of a lot,the sound quality/engineering on this album is top notch,have not stopped playing it since I downloaded it.
All I can say is well done to them.

Pro Hoc Vice

EunanMac wrote: »

Clever move by U2, the real money is to be made in concerts now.

Honest people can get it off itunes for free, the rest will get it the way they were always going to get it.

Expect a big U2 tour next summer.

http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/music/music-news/u2-gets-100m-from-apple-to-give-away-new-album-30576404.html

Deal worth 100 million dollars, lots of concerts to make that kinda money.

EunanMac

Pro Hoc Vice wrote: »

http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/music/music-news/u2-gets-100m-from-apple-to-give-away-new-album-30576404.html

Deal worth 100 million dollars, lots of concerts to make that kinda money.

Even better, and they'll make a mint in concerts too, thanks to the widespread distribution of the album

Apple are already making it back as well, several of U2's back catalogue of albums are now in the itunes top 10

Marcusm

Pro Hoc Vice wrote: »

http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/music/music-news/u2-gets-100m-from-apple-to-give-away-new-album-30576404.html

Deal worth 100 million dollars, lots of concerts to make that kinda money.

How much is cash? I'd seriously question the value of media and other marketing support which likely forms the bulk of the supposed 100m.

JimsAlterEgo

notmymark wrote: »

I would be nearly sure it’s the same as every other album. It’s only available free to iTunes customers for a period of time before its wider release where everyone else can get it (for a price).

Anyway it’s my understanding that it’s not free from U2s point of view.... essentially Apple are paying U2 and not the customer.

But whats to stop someone giving away something they got for free? Also anyone can sign up to itunes and get a copy so in effect by getting it from a friend you are really just taking a short-cut.

FreudianSlippers

JimsAlterEgo wrote: »

But whats to stop someone giving away something they got for free? Also anyone can sign up to itunes and get a copy so in effect by getting it from a friend you are really just taking a short-cut.

Nobody is "giving away" the album for free though. Apple is purchasing limited exclusivity on behalf of their itunes members from U2. The consideration between you and Apple is your data - you must create an itunes account to receive the album and, in order to do so, provide (inter alia) email address and credit card info. This will be invaluable to Apple to expand their itunes subscriber base to transition people onto ApplePay in due course.

Of course, the short answer in regard to your question is in your itunes T&Cs:

USE OF PURCHASED OR RENTED CONTENT

You agree that the iTunes Products are provided to you by way of a license only. You understand that the Service and certain iTunes Products include a security framework using technology that protects digital information and limits your use of iTunes Products to certain usage rules (“Security Framework”) established by iTunes and its licensors and that, whether or not iTunes Products are limited by security technology, you shall use iTunes Products in compliance with the applicable usage rules established by iTunes and its licensors (“Usage Rules”), and that any other use of the iTunes Products may constitute a copyright infringement. Any security technology is an inseparable part of the iTunes Products. iTunes reserves the right to modify the Usage Rules for future purchases on the Service at any time. However, such changes will not apply to iTunes Products that you have already purchased. Any change to the Usage Rules will be communicated to you. In the event that you refuse to accept the new Usage Rules, you will no longer be able to acquire iTunes Products from the Service.

hullaballoo

This reminds me a little bit of when the pubs started trying to give away free Budweiser.

Couldn't pay me to drink the stuff.

Five Lamps

Marcusm wrote: »

How much is cash? I'd seriously question the value of media and other marketing support which likely forms the bulk of the supposed 100m.

The Apple launch and the U2 association preoccupied every major media outlet for a day worldwide and they are still talking about it. Perhaps with the exception on North Korea. Even if you're not a fan people were going on to iTunes to see how you get a free album wiating for you.

Five Lamps

JimsAlterEgo wrote: »

But whats to stop someone giving away something they got for free? Also anyone can sign up to itunes and get a copy so in effect by getting it from a friend you are really just taking a short-cut.

It's not. You didn't get a licence from the copyright holder for it as your friend can't give you that. Acquiring it through iTunes means you have a licence and Apple paid for it in this case.

Marcusm

Five Lamps wrote: »

The Apple launch and the U2 association preoccupied every major media outlet for a day worldwide and they are still talking about it. Perhaps with the exception on North Korea. Even if you're not a fan people were going on to iTunes to see how you get a free album wiating for you.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting that the media aspect is valueless but more that, in my experience of such matters, it's generally attributed an inflated value. A new U2 album will always attract significant amounts of free media coverage and giving it away fee on all outlets (a la Radiohead) would have attracted significantly higher attention. On this basis, I very much doubt that coordinating it with Apple will have generated USD100m in value for U2. I'm genuinely intrigued by how much cash they would have received - they would get less than USD3 per sale (assuming a fairly high royalty rate for their status). No way would they have generated 30m in sales in 4 weeks (which I think is the free download period).

Valentine1

Copyright applies regardless of whether something is given away of paid for, making an unauthorised copy of the U2 album would be a breach of that copyright (and thus illegal) despite the fact that you got it for free.

Five Lamps

Marcusm wrote: »

Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting that the media aspect is valueless but more that, in my experience of such matters, it's generally attributed an inflated value. A new U2 album will always attract significant amounts of free media coverage and giving it away fee on all outlets (a la Radiohead) would have attracted significantly higher attention. On this basis, I very much doubt that coordinating it with Apple will have generated USD100m in value for U2. I'm genuinely intrigued by how much cash they would have received - they would get less than USD3 per sale (assuming a fairly high royalty rate for their status). No way would they have generated 30m in sales in 4 weeks (which I think is the free download period).

I would tend to disagree ... coverage of an Apple event is almost blanket at this stage. U2 would get extensive coverage of course but as much as this. Take China, for example, would U2 get much there for an album? Certainly the Apple launch would.

However, it will be interesting to see how it does pan out in terms of actual sales outside of the "free" period.

therewillbe

Well I actually bought the 12" Vinyl.It is growing on me.The White Vinyl`s are a great selling point.