U2/Apple
This story started burning up the Internet yesterday. And has now even made it to hitsdailydouble.com. At first I laughed it off, but thinking about it last night, I wondered, how would the launch of U2’s album have played out differently if the band had aligned with Apple?
Letterman doesn’t reach 5 million people a night. And it tends to be the same few million people every evening. "Good Morning America" reaches more, but I wouldn’t call that broadcasting. To think there’s cross-pollination of these two audiences is to believe that Miley Cyrus is going to start dating Mickey Rourke. It’s hard to reach everybody these days. And incredibly difficult on a sustained basis. Who can get your message across? Apple.
You see Bono’s got so much money that he’s got to diversify. He aligned himself with Elevation Partners, and its Marshmallow Boy, full of shit hypester Roger McNamee. To watch Mr. McNamee foam at the mouth about the Palm Pre is akin to watching a long-haired Donald Trump proclaim himself to be the world’s greatest businessman. But worse. McNamee is the geek who couldn’t get a date in high school trying to eke out his revenge because he’s in tech and he’s rich. As for the long hair… You know middle-aged people with long locks weren’t testing the limits in high school, they were short-haired geeks poring over their calculus tomes. Furthermore, in today’s world, it’s not about money, but soul. And Roger McNamee’s got no soul.
And yes, Mr. McNamee and Bono are backing the Palm Pre. Something techies say is wonderful but has yet to launch on its designated carrier, the fading Sprint. Furthermore, Apple has warned that Palm, on life support, should be ready for a lawsuit if there’s any copying of the iPhone.
Then again, you can copy the iPhone, but can you duplicate it? Not only its interface, but the App Store? Highly doubtful. In tech, being first is crucial.
But now that Bono is aligned with Palm, can his band U2 do Apple commercials? Come on, you know the 2009 version of the launch of 2004’s "How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb" featured a special U2 iPhone/iPod Touch app. Which came with a free single and delivered all kinds of crazy content. Furthermore, imagine the hype of a special-edition U2 iPhone. In red. They would have been snapped up like chocolate chip cookies in kindergarten.
But all this was left on the table. Because U2 followed the money.
Bono has not only invested in the Pre through Elevation Partners, now the band has made a deal with RIM to promote its tour. How many people even know what RIM is? For the uninitiated, the Canadian company makes the BlackBerry. I love my BlackBerry. Even I don’t have an iPhone. But the devices are built like shit, there’s no physical store and there’s still no App Store. In other words, RIM has got no buzz. It’s like making a deal with Buick as opposed to BMW. Very few people WANT to drive a Buick. Oh, it’ll get you there, but not in style, not like arriving in a BMW.
You don’t have to listen to me, you’ve just got to read the surveys. Apple is the coolest brand out there. Even cooler than U2 (and you know every band considers itself a brand these days). Instead of Fortune 500 corporations paying acts a fortune to hitch up with them, acts die to be aligned with the Cupertino company, they want some of that glow, they want some of that buzz. Apple ads are ubiquitous. Not only on TV, where the song plays in the background, but on billboards. A band of the stature of U2 can extract concessions starting acts can’t. U2 was even IN an iPod TV ad. If Feist can build a whole career, can have a hit single and tour the world based solely on having her music play in the background of an iPod commercial, imagine the benefit to U2!
But alas, that benefit has not come to pass. Going independent, chasing the big money, U2 has left all these opportunities on the cutting room floor. They had an opportunity for metaphorical price and positioning, for being the album people see first when they come into the store, that’s what iPod ads do, on steroids, but they passed it up for short term cash.
Paul McGuinness has been trotting around the world saying it would be tragic if U2 was good at music but bad at business, but the band was certainly bad here. Career first, cash second. You’ve got to play the long term game. Maybe that aforementioned iTunes app came with a live broadcast of the first five gigs of the new tour. Maybe it came with a live show that was broadcast nowhere! With a big spread on the iTunes Store, the number one music retailer.
If U2 wants to be the biggest band in the world, and you know that’s their desire, you don’t hook up with Claude Kirschner, but Ringling Brothers! You go to where the action is. Steve Jobs and Bono is a summit meeting. Equivalent to Obama meeting Putin. Bono and BlackBerry is barely newsworthy. And if you don’t think the Storm is a failure, either you don’t read or you don’t have one.
At some point in the future, Apple will not be the big kahuna. Presently it is. Don’t try to teach the computer company a lesson. Align with it, take advantage of its identity, let it polish your image. No one can reach the target demo, music fans, like Apple. Apple brings everyone together in a world of narrow silos. Use the company to your advantage.
