Wednesday, February 06, 2008

We thought that we had the answers / It was the questions we had wrong

Am I the only person who can see the blatant hypocrisy in Paul McGuiness ‘ Cannes comments, as I look at the U2 flavoured iPod, and recall those omnipresent TVCs. I guess not…

What exactly did he think was going to go on to those, as he puts it “burglary kits”??

And to say, as he does…

Those were the days when iTunes was being talked about as penicillin for the recorded music industry.

In 2004? When talk of Mp3 piracy was as rampant as it is now…seriously Paul, are you that ignorant or simply willfully trying to cover your arse.

How are those $200 ticket sales for U2 going? Or that remastered CD set of a twenty year old album for US$30 list price…?

And a question Paul...if we say no to your ideas, will Bono go away.......

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6 comments:

Peter McLennan said...

>and a question Paul...if we say no to your ideas, will Bono go away......

Oh Simon, if it were only that easy...

I mean, he's just being greedy, right?

Unknown said...

"Circle the wagons!" Boy, that Paul McGuinness is so old school, hoping to keep the old hierarchy of labels, managers and artists intact. And each taking their (unfair) share of the pie. It's 2008 and he seems to have only just realised what is going on ... his idea of making the ISP the revenue police just can't work, not technologically possible, even though he has this misguided faith that the promise of profits will drive the development of such technology. A follower of the Gordon Gecko philosophy no doubt.

robbery said...

simon he addresses the ipod point in his full speech.

I've met bono, he's a pretty nice guy. I don't doubt his honesty and integrity even if their music doesn't float my boat. can't say the same for a lot of other over produced pap. McGuinness had some very relevant points. give the man credit for something even if he is a rich and successful man and we secretly envy his position if not his taste in clients.

Unfair share of the pie???
When was the last time any of you guys looked over the books of a working band?

lawyers, bankers, finance companies, dentists, doctors, NZ on Air advisers, record contract overseeers, now them there is some overpaid people

how come you didn't drop this into the drm fisticuffs simon :)

Simon said...

I've read the full speech and I don't believe he comes close the addressing the iPod point, in fact the way he deals with it is quite dishonest, and that is my partial point. Either the man is being hypocritical or he is thoroughly out of touch, so much so that his comments are irrelevant.

Bono...yes I've met the man a few times and sat with him in a club and sat at a bar with him. He's a pleasant chap but that doesn't exuse is self righteous pontifications..for example the one last year where, as he got into his limo he told a reporter that Burma was causing him to loose sleep.

And I think I have a reasonable grasp on rock'n'roll finances.

Unknown said...

lol... my favourite line

"[the recording industry] allowed an entire collection of digital industries to arise that enabled the consumer... "

Silly recording industry... in stead of monopolising, colluding and creating what should have been a great RIKO case- they should have been kidnapping the scientists at Fraunhofer, launching a PR campaign against the Advanced Research Projects Agency, bought all the Universities in the world and banned math, physics, engineering...

In fact a big spaceship to move everyone without a vested interest in the recording (distribution mafia) off the planet would be great... failing that perhaps Hilary Rosen, Paul McGuinness et al could take the spaceship ride... perhaps they could take Bono too!

Unknown said...

Oh yeah... and the RadioHead comment made by Paul is an out right lie!

Money made by RadioHead from their experiment, $3.15 per download compared to

$2.15 via the label for Ok Computer

(not mention much greater numbers of downloads than sales would ever generate)