U2.com, lazy?

[Nilwi]

Hi,

I don't know if this topic has been up before, but I am starting to feel that the people at U2.com are getting lazy.

Right now I am paying for a official site where the fans are being asked to do most of the work. Currently U2.com are asking us to write about our favorite single and our favorite re-master. The U22 project was fine, but I feel that much of the current content is something that I can find on fan forums much like this one.

So, instead of asking the members to do all the work, why don't they release the rest of the U22 songs for exclusive downloads, give us more insight to the current recording process, show unseen footage  etc.

Any views on this?

[paddyattitude]

this is called interactivity!

[Johnny Feathers]

To me, U2's website has never been very good.  But then, that's usually true of most official band websites.  In most cases, fan sites are better than official ones.

But also, when there's little happening they can actually report on--no ongoing tour or current album--it might be a bit much to expect they can keep cranking out content.  Sort of like 24-hour news channels, when there's nothing important to report on.  So I'm not terribly surprised they're relying on fans for content, at least now.

[JTBaby]

"getting" lazy ? You mean getting "lazier" surely ?

[lorijane]

"Lazy," "crappy," "amateurish," whichever word you choose, it's always had its limitations.  There are some good things about it, too, like Willie Williams' diary. Even though not much is going on now, they could dig into their archives and post obscure stuff.  Quite frankly, I can't remember the last time I logged on, although I still keep renewing, I guess mostly for sentimental reasons. And if there is an arena tour, I want to keep my place in the presales.

[jick]

"Lazy," "crappy," "amateurish," whichever word you choose, it's always had its limitations.  There are some good things about it, too, like Willie Williams' diary. Even though not much is going on now, they could dig into their archives and post obscure stuff.  Quite frankly, I can't remember the last time I logged on, although I still keep renewing, I guess mostly for sentimental reasons. And if there is an arena tour, I want to keep my place in the presales.

There is not much in the U2 archives. Those have been virtually milked dry.

Check out the anniversary re-issues of their old albums.  The "extras" or "b-sides" were really unfinished substandard stuff that were not close to the original releases.  Some were just even fragments.  And if you think about it, U2 chose to release them - meaning that is the best of the rest they could come up with from those albums.

And for the more recent albums, there haven't been as much b-sides.  So as much as Bono would like one to believe that every album session they have 50 songs - that is furthest from the truth.  During the POP album, they were even rehashing titles that they have been working on since Zooropa (as can be seen in the album cover art).

U2 also delay releases of their albums and take forever to release it.  They milk every session dry and whatever is in the album is usually all they can come up with that is presentable.

So don't keep your hopes up for digging into the archives and posting obscure stuff.

Cheers,

J

[JTBaby]

There's not much in the archives, except for audio and video of every concert from Zoo TV onwards.

Not much at all.

[tigerfan41]

Can someone explain why Springsteen allows XM to broadcast nearly every concert from his tours, yet 99% of the U2 shows from the past 20 years (that, btw, were recorded) are hidden in the archives? Surely U2 realizes the money making opportunity they've got with all of those concerts? Or maybe realizes that putting them up on the U2 website for paying subscribers may help them to keep existing subscribers and gain new ones?

[zootv]

Here ya go:
http://www.u2.com/news/title/from-the-ground-up


Hopefully we'll get all the unreleased tracks. A DVD from a later show would be nice too.

[Nilwi]

Well isn't that ironic? :-)

[Nanda360]

I don't like U2.com. I became a subscriber because of U22 but and I now regret doing so because of the very long shipping delay. When I need information, I go to a fan site.

[Smee]

What p155e5 me off about u2.com is the distanct lack of vids showing what the band is up to. And when they did do it for the build up to 360 tour, we got completely pointless 10 second clips. Give something more substantial i say

[miryclay]

They are on a publicity hiatus.

[ian ryan]

Since its relaunch with HTDAAB, U2.com has been almost universally unimpressive. This is nothing new. Apart from advance ticket sales (which it has been known to screw up), the only really good thing to come out of the site has been official album and tour news and U22.

[miryclay]

I think u2 view running a website as a nuisance. The main focus of what they do is play live and create music. Sadly, creating a website is a must in the 21st century. I actually don't blame them or other bands for charging for members to have a website.