More than 445k people downloaded the new U2 album illegally
Figures shared with Music Ally by tracking firm BigChampagne reveal that more than 445,000 people illegally downloaded U2’s No Line On The Horizon album in the two-week period between 18th February and 3rd March from BitTorrent.
The chart supplied by the company shows the spike in downloads following the album’s leak in February, apparently due to it being accidentally made available for sale on an Australian digital music store ahead of its official release on 2nd March.
It’s not great for U2, although they’re by no means the only band to suffer from a high-profile pre-release leak in this way. Would all those 445,000 people have bought the album if they didn’t have BitTorrent clients? Nobody knows for sure.
“They’re probably losing out, but to find out how much, you’d have to get into the head of every music fan and assess whether they would have bought the album if they hadn’t gotten it for free,” says BigChampagne’s Eric Garland. “It’s a philosophical debate – there’s no resolution.”
This chart was originally published as part of a longer feature in the Music Ally Report, a fortnightly publication analysing digital music trends and strategies. For a free trial subscription, click here.
Tags: bigchampagne, BitTorrent, no line on the horizon, u2
March 12th, 2009 at 12:32 am
445,000 crooks, sleaze-bag, jerks! I wonder how they’d feel if at the end of the week their employer kept their paycheck. Obviously these losers believe people shouldn’t be paid for their efforts.
March 22nd, 2009 at 6:59 am
Ha-ha, so scary. I guess U2 got paid enough for their previously released overpriced albums and their previous album was crap, so people wanted to check it out first. Nevertheless, record companies get a revenge from people who had to pay way more of what they should have paid for album with two-three good songs and the rest was so-so at best. This is fan rebellion. I swear, if I made so much money as U2, I would make music for free starting from 2001. I know this is not the point, but people have got fed up with paying too much. I have thousands CD’s and paid $15-20 for them, it is enough. If I hear a great album now, I would buy it, but not for the kind of money I used to pay. Artists should make money as supposed to – play live for people. And where is the art work vinyls used to have?
March 23rd, 2009 at 8:13 pm
I think you are very well right Rovel. No wonder they want 120% of gross for their concerts, it is disgusting. It is totally unacceptable and a spit in a face of any promoter, even if it is Live Nation. Greedy asses. Fans should not buy their records!
March 24th, 2009 at 1:08 am
Most people don’t realize that most bands make little if anything off of album sales. Touring and merch sales is where bands make their money. A lot of bands actually end up owing the record companies money, plus they have to pay for legal advice because the contracts are in legal speak. The record labels are doing everything in their power to keep doing business as they’ve been for the past 50 years, instead of changing their business practices to meet today’s market. Record labels need to accept that it’s easier and cheaper for bands to use a small recording studio or self-produce an album. The labels are still needed, but as a distributor/pr firm.
March 27th, 2009 at 4:10 pm
recorded music should be an advertisement for your live show. not the other way around. the problem the recording industry has now is that they’ve foisted a bunch of talentless hacks on us who can’t perform live so the only product they have is the recording. i’m not insinuating that U2 falls into this category but take a look at the pop charts and tell me how many of the top stars you think could actually pull off a live show with real musicians that approximates or improves on the recorded material. i would suspect very few and that is wrong. steal the record, pay for the show.
March 27th, 2009 at 6:29 pm
sabin_24, the labels aren’t needed for anything. What are they going to distribute? And where are they going to do PR. Mass messaging doesn’t work anymore. Look at the way P Diddy tried to make a comback with Dannity Kane a while back. They got all the exposure in the world. Nobody cares. It’s about authenticity now.