Bono, Supposedly, Leaks New Tracks — Ya, Right
So The Sun and torrentfreak.com are reporting that a few new tracks from U2’s forthcoming and likely titled ” No Line On The Horizon” release have been “leaked” to the Internet. Supposedly, an “innocent passer by” recognized Bono’s voice and then recorded (not sure with what), uploaded, and published the tracks to the Internet.
I don’t buy it. This is a publicity stunt designed to create buzz.
U2 and Bono are so connected to the use of buzz marketing, social media, and social networking for me to believe this story. In fact, back in November, Bono hooked up with iLike to “preview” a release of the bonus material that would be included on the re-released Joshua Tree.
About 8 years ago, I worked with a tech guy who really wanted to be a musician — in fact, he played as a backup guitarist for Rage Against the Machine on a couple of recordings. When we went to lunch and debated about the use of Napster and P2P file sharing networks, he proposed a simple solution: upload crappy recordings labeled as the real thing. Give listeners a chance to gain exposure to the artist, recordings, musical style, sounds, etc. When the listener found music he/she liked, he/she could leverage legal download services or old-fashioned CD sales to get the quality recording.
Humm….sounds family.