The Complete U2

So U2 and Apple (via iTunes) have teamed up to offer The Complete U2 – 446 songs for only $149.99. Ouch!

I love U2; have for years, and I guess I will for years to come. I have all their albums and their early EPs, but I do not have $149.99 to get The Complete U2. Why would I care to get the collection if I have most of the band’s music? Because there are a good number of unreleased songs that are not available anywhere else. I do not have any “un-purchased” music; I have paid for everything on my iPod, either through my CD collection or via iTunes downloads.

Scam? Not really sure, but Apple and U2 have to realize that their fans will pay for these unreleased songs despite having most of the rest. So instead of paying $.99 per song, Apple and U2 are asking us to pay around $3.75 per unreleased song. The catch is that you cannot just download these songs; you have to pay the whole $149.99.

In this case I would not mind paying $40-50 for these never before released songs, but $149.99? That is just too much for me to stomach. I am not going to blame Apple or U2 for trying to make a buck, but why stick it too the fans that matter the most? The fans that have been with the band for years are the same ones that will own all the previous music and will want to own these new unreleased songs?

Maybe someone will realize that this is a terrible mistake by making a the unreleased songs available in a cheaper bundle? Maybe just maybe, but I doubt it. Or maybe Santa will bring some iTunes gift cards …

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3 thoughts on “The Complete U2”

  1. Maybe after the Holidays, they make the individual tracks available.

    The whole premise of iTunes was that you could buy a la carte, get just the tracks you want.

    Obviously, they made a big exception for U2 (and would probably do it for other big artists). There have been reports that some of the record companies don’t like songs not being sold as part of albums so some music is like that, where you have to buy the entire album. Also some bands like Radiohead is vocal about wanting to sell only albums, not single tracks.

    U2 reportedly did not get paid for those commercials you see all the time. Apparently they figured the commercials and the association would help promote their work.

  2. The new CD is great (well, it is at least very, very good) … listened to it several times on the airplane.

    As far as iTunes goes, I assume that U2 has a lot of control over their new 440+ box set, but I hope you are right about releasing the individual tracks after the holidays or some period of time, say six months. I could live with a $49.99 set of the unreleased tracks, but I doubt I will see that any time soon.

  3. I still have not pulled the plug [rather pulled the purse strings open … or something like that] on the "complete" set, and I doubt I will anytime soon. Anyone know of a good site that reviews some of the unreleased materials?

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