U2 Tracks Leak After Bono Plays Stereo Too Loudly
Written by enigmax on August 16, 2008U2 manager Paul McGuinness, who wants file-sharers to be disconnected from the Internet, has something else to complain about today. Four songs from U2’s upcoming album ‘No Line On The Horizon’ have been leaked online after Bono played them too loudly on his stereo – and a fan recorded them.
There’s little file-sharers like more than news of a little payback. Ever since U2 manager Paul McGuiness suggested that people using P2P should have their connection to the Internet severed, he has elevated himself into the ranks of ‘fair game’ in file-sharing circles – and therefore ripe to be pwned. After today, he’s going to want file-sharers executed – or worse.
Proving that if media can be seen, heard or touched it can be copied, songs from U2’s forthcoming album have been leaked online. Four tracks from the album, provisionally entitled ‘No Line On The Horizon’, have appeared on the Internet. The mechanism of the release is pretty comical – Bono blasted the tracks from a stereo in his villa in the South of France so loudly, that a passer-by recognized his voice and recorded them.
Four songs have been put online including the title track, the first single from the album ‘Sexy Boots’, ‘Moment of Surrender’ and ‘For Your Love’.
There’s no doubt that these cam-quality recordings will be particularly poor, but a large section of the file-sharing U2 fans won’t care about that. They have something that they’re not supposed to have and Mr McGuiness has had a bit of egg rubbed in his face – which probably holds more value to file-sharers than a pre-release FLAC rip of the entire album….
…which will appear online too of course, probably before the scheduled November release date.
Previously: IFPI Hijacks Pirate Bay Traffic
Next: Legal P2P Music Service Doomed to Fail
81 Responses
April 1st?
lol serves the manager right. Can’t stop the movement.
Owned! Now he have no one else to blame but himself :P
That is hysterical
In the end, the music industry will want us all to have DRM chips inside our brains. As the author said, if you can see, hear or touch it you can copy it.
Please industry, stop demonizing the pirates, it is you who refuse to live up to your own hype.
This story http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/08/13/2249246
about a guy who learns from pirates should be a shining example of how to deal with the problem.
I would release these four songs as DRM free downloads on the web the second I hear about a pirate dropping a shit version of them just to save my reputation.
If you want to get rid of the pirates, offer a better service than they do …
Link plz
Much lulz.
Nubs will always be nubs.
papa noooooo!
bono needs his biddy…
Just because you have ‘a’ audience, dosent mean you have ‘the’ audience. Before there were record companies there were musicians and fans, after record companies there will be musicians and fans.
Could this be a clever marketing idea? Massive advertising among the file sharing community, while offering a poor quality sample that’s no substitute for the real deal.
So are they going to charge Bono with the leak?
By playing it to loud he made it a public display which is against the law unless he has a license for public productions in France.
Which i doubt he has
Nyah-hah. ^_^
@11 – Actually, I wouldn’t be too surprised if the RIAA did just that. After all, they believe they own all artists’ music, not the artists themselves.
Too bad it didn’t happen in the US. Then he would go to jail for three years per song.
*Cough*
So is the european radio police going after Bono like they did for the .. what was it .. gas station / repair shop ?
its actually funny in a wicked way to see ppl who run the business, ppl with real power, that can destroy other ppl lives, are so dumb. so self observed, and so far behind in progress that world, or better to say technology has made in last 20 years.
and tbh, i would not be supriced if this was just another marketing trick to get the media attention. hey you! yes you, half-wits running sony, vivendi universal! get a grip, stop playing around being so scared. do something useful with all the money you have.
{/me continues to dream}
Hehe, can just picture PM’s fat pig like face sputtering…
priceless!
Really cool, owned and ROFL… just freak me out?
…and this is the band who released their early albums on 1+1 tape cassettes, recorded on one side of the cassette only – with the other side clearly marked ‘This side is blank for your own recording’.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Cassette (under Home dubbing entry)
Hypocritical fucks.
Why pay when you can hear the idiot singer blasting out his own unreleased music.
I can just imagine that twat bono jamin on his air guitar while listening to it…
I`ve never really liked u2 anyway. If you know anything at all about irish music then you will know that bono sits somewhere near to the bottom of the pile. As for Bono saying that fileshares should be disconnected from the internet; I doubt very much he means that. I’m sure he is just being seen to say the right thing in public. But will I be downloading his new album, errr no. I could not even tell you the names of any of their previous releases. Anyway who gives a flying fuck what bono thinks. Possibly one of the most overated bands of all time along with the beatles and robbi williams. All of us little people have been supporting these artists for years making them super fracking rich, now the tide has turned. Some artists will move with the times and adopt p2p with open arms. Remember that filesharing has given a lot of small indi bands a shout at an audience whereas before when the whole thing was completely ruled by the music producers the small indipendents never got a look in, now the field is wide open.
P.S.Come on torrentfreak, there must be more interesting things happening than what Bono Thinks.
@13
Could be the repair shop, but you can’t forget about the charity building with the radio in the kitchen and the little boys and girls singing Christmas carols on Christmas Eve/Day.
You guys seriously fucking think that Mc Guinness thinks you sad little twats have gotten payback? You are all fucking thieves anyway, surely there will be payback for you too.
Wow I’m stunned that people still listen to U2’s shitty music. If my neighbor was playing that crap loud enough for me to hear it I’d think he was gay. I’d punch him in the face for disturbing the peace too.
I will still pay for their great music, whether he played it for other people or not. I don’t understand why there is no sense of impropriety on the part of the person who recorded this. I am guessing that they have a bone to pick, and are choosing to hurt a band that has done many things to help the disenfranchised in the world, and has consistently put out good music.
Don’t download the rips, and do buy the album when it is released!
Hum, I smell a BuckCherry play here ..
john (18), you are an idiot. go back to listening to creed or limp bizkit, you have no place here.
I smell viral marketing here
Sounds like bullshit to me (the story I mean, not just his music). Is there some reason to believe it’s not a manufactured event for the purpose of advertising?
I know a few musicians, and not a single one of them actually likes to listen to their own recordings. This Bono dude must have a sickening degree of narcissism to want to hear his own voice, not just in his own house, but to blast it throughout the whole neighborhood.
Assuming that this story is even true. It’s just too convenient that these “leaked” tracks are such poor quality they can’t possibly substitute for the real thing.
TorrentFreak, are you going to investigate this “leak” and see if the band is pulling a Buckcherry?
Of course they’re gonna investigate it. Just need to get in contact with the_insiders to pull some torrent site initial seeder IP records…
I think Bono should be sued by the RIAA for unauthorized performances.
WOW….I just read this on a hot forum on tall dating site ____Tallmingle.com____ which is a hot dating site for all tall friends and tall singles.
I remember a very similar thing happening with Vertigo…
Paul Hewson AKA bono, is an egotist who needs to be taken down a peg or two. He should be prosecuted under France’s noise pollution laws.
Fuck U2 and McGuinness.
need sauce
Sounds like a publicity stunt. Think about it, this “passer by” was able to record four full tracks, know the names of the songs, and that it was a pre release. Not to mention, he seemed to capture the FULL song. So Bono, what, listening to his own crappy music on repeat? That LOUD? Listen to the rips… NO road noise, NO birds, NO construction noise. Anyone been to the south of France? If a Renault doesn’t beep at you, you are not in France.
BTW, the new tracks are horrific, and make me want to use a screw driver to relieve the suffering.
RIAA hates the internet not because of piracy (which actually increases sales of the pirated music.) They hate the internet because it undermines their centralized control over the music market, upon which their outmoded business model depends.
Yawn…who friggin’ cares? A bunch of old guys pretending to be hip. ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzz.
Did Bono have a license to play those tracks where others in earshot can clearly hear them? After all those tracks are not U2’s anymore but their record label’s and the IFPI’s.
hear shot license.. got one? Didnt think so.. your goin to jail.
Viral marketing / Astro turfing campaign.
IT should be realized that the Majority of Americans believe that “piracy” is “not-OK.” You must realize that this is the reason why file-sharing of copyrighted works is still illegal – it is ultimately because the public does not agree that suuch things are OK.
What must we do? We must do more to change the public’s view on this.
@24 – You’re a music noob. I am a musician and a recording engineer and I am here to tell you that every musician I work with wants to listen to themselves when they are actively making an album which is what U2 is currently doing. They have to. They’d be idiots if they didn’t. It’s like saying a cook is a narcissist if he tastes the soup he’s making. Dumb ass.
HHAAHHA FUNNY NEWS
You realize that this is the best kind of viral marketing. Please stay up late at night thinking of these tactics. Now you are all thinking about U2. It is brilliant!
I’m going to call BS on this. I mean, I don’t care if Bono likes to listen to his own music loud. That’s irrelevant to me.
What’s far-fetched is that there was a passerby who recognized that the music he heard was unreleased music and happened to have a recording device with him at the time.
I think it’s crap.
Im laughing at the stupidity of the CEO, and the conspiracy of piracy-in-real-life incident.
I agree with God (@35).
I haven’t listened to it myself, but if God’s right and there is no background noise, this completely smells like a buckcherry.
So many lulz were just had.
People still listen to U2????
Dude I thought this article was from the Onion but it’s not!
Do as McGuinness says.
Dont d/l u2.
And While your at it dont buy it.
The band has lost its (edge) long ago.
Remember the metallica boycott (napster)?
Nice job McGuinnASS.
Bono + Paul McGuinness = /fail.
@37
STFU douchebag. When we want to hear from the 12 year olds, we’ll call you. Go back to listening to Hannah Montana n00b, as you obviously have no clue what real music is about.
Where can we get the torrent?
Depending on the quality, I would suspect this to be a leak by the band or the manager.
Honestly who would just happen to be passing by and have a mic and recording equiptment ready to record music coming from a villa? How would they even recognize it was pre-release material?
Seems pretty obvious that this would have to be an inside leak, the band or manager or record label releasing their own tracks for publicity.
Think about it, who stands to gain from this? It’s massive hype and publicity for a new album that will no doubt increase record sales. To think this is some kind of payback is a bit far fetched.
Bono has always seemed like an ok guy, being an activist and all, but if his manager is saying that file sharers should be disconnected, and then the band is leaking their own tracks, then they deserve to have a flac rip of their album pre’d.
this manager is so stupid if true, he doesn’t realise this is publicity ! I ask myself if all this story is fake, was all planned by himself ( if he’s a clever old fox ;-)
LOL!!!!!!
Make Bono history
Maybe everyone should find something
do to with their lives. Making one’s own music and making a living from it is difficult and the great bands of past and present would not exist if they could not earn money from their efforts.
Hoorray? Let’s promote copywrite infringment?
@57 daveydaveydavo:
Much too late for that.
What a fake. Fake fake fake.
Note to all musical artists, if you don’t want people to get a hold of your music long before the release date, DON’T PLAY IT SO LOUD THAT YOUR WHOLE NEIGHBORHOOD CAN HEAR IT!!! LOL!
@19…
i agrre with u
McGuinness – stop whining. That’s some of the best marketing for an upcoming release. It builds anticipation.
What? I’m not going to buy the album because I love the cell-phone quality audio with horns honking in the background? Gimme a break!
If nothing else it will get true U2 fans pumped. I know I am!
“U2 Tracks Leak After Bono Plays Stereo Too Loudly”
This just might be the best title on TF to date.
Of course this is a planned action. It’s not the first time they’ve done it. (remember the stolen laptop with “How to dismantle an atomic bomb” songs on it).
Even though I’m probabely saying this to the wrong crowd, McGuiness is of course right in saying that filesharing should be stopped.
A new CD is a musician’s livelyhood (although U2 don’t realy need it anymore) and filesharing is not all that different from shoplifting of whitch we all think it is not acceptable.
Don’t get me wrong, I do think that there should be better ways to distibute music then by selling CD’s.
Back to the topic. It’s clearly a marketing trick to create a buzz, and I know it has worked for at least one person.
Always impressed by the level of intellect displayed here on torrent freak.
Ah, Bono. Hypocrite extraordinaire. I guess the multi-millions and rubbing noses with the elite just isn’t enough for this tool. Will now be seeding their new album as soon as it leaks, that’s a promise!
By the way, @66: reword that to “a new CD is the label’s lifeblood” and you’ve got it nailed. The artist, on the other hand, makes their money touring. U2, with their massive world tours, is a good example of this.
@69 Bands don’t make money from touring unless they sell out 1000+ venues, I know this, I was signed to Sony in the UK, so shut the fuck up unless you know what you’re talking about. Keep justifying to yourself it’s ok to steal music. Fucker.
@70
I dunno you from Adam’s housecat, and I don’t know or care much about your issue, but your jealousy of the bands who do make it is showing pretty badly. Stop taking it out on 69.
Sorry to some of you who think that everything is fair game and we deserve to have any thing we wan’t (cause we’re not stupid, poor ,Africans who have to struggle to survive)”we’re americans and we can’t pay for that because then we wouldn’t have any money to spend at McDonalds.”
I even work in a retail music store, and I am not against file sharing (occasionaly). It is a great way to see if you want to buy an album or legally download a song, but why download 100,000 song and not pay a penny, this is file stealing. anyone who doesn’t intend to pay for any of their music is Asking for their favorite bands to work as slaves for us relying on the people who pay to keep their “beloved” favorite bands around, and only a select few bands are really filthy rich like you might think.
still, I totally disagree with the Paul McGuiness. I think he has single handedly made U2 look greedy by using his position with U2 to feed his apparent addiction to money. Which, in his mind, is the most important thing, And how the hell is a crappy recording through a window going to make U2 less money(if that was even the point of music). it might just promote the new album, and that would be a crime.Come on Paul.
I really want to watch that youtube clip because I like U2, and i will be buying their new album, I can’t believe that the clip was pulled. that sucks, and doesn’t make sense
I just hate that we are so selfish as americans. use some common sense out there. If you wan’t to listen to music that an artist has poured their heart and soul into, at least have some common decentcy and buy the music you listen to. if you want to keep listening to your favorite music the band must be paid.
#26. I think if it was viral marketing youtube might still have this clip posted(or would they?)
http://achtungbaby.vox.com/library/post/u2-leak.html
fuck U2. keep it and spread it around.
Upscale the sound, audiophilic nerds!
Nice job #74 on finding that. Thank’s!
Here it is, thanks to ‘Joe’ (Post 74)
Here it is, thanks to ‘Joe’ (Post 74)
Here it is, thanks to ‘Joe’ (Post 74)
Here it is, thanks to ‘Joe’ (Post 74)
Here it is, thanks to ‘Joe’ (Post 74)Here it is, thanks to ‘Joe’ (Post 74)
Here it is, thanks to ‘Joe’ (Post 74)
http://achtungbaby.vox.com/library/post/u2-leak.html
its a publicity stunt. their manager had said they would be doing a very unique way of releasing or announcing the new album. it was not an accident but a clever idea from the best rock band of all time. whoever hates bono and has never met him, has no right to badmouth and judge him.
also just to add to this, i cant believe people actually can say their music sucks! I mean, do you know anything about music , or are you just jealous because you have NO talent and NO respect for anyone. you are entitled to your opinion but your facts are unfounded and total bullshit and i feel personally compelled to tell all of you off! from—- u2 fan in New York who loves Bono..and the rest of the talented gorgeous members of the band/.by the way just to piss you bono haters off…. did you know U2 remastered their first 3 albums, and gasp…..actually sold them…and guess what ?? people paid hard earned cash for it! But you probably wouldnt know about hard work do you???? hahha
U2 sucks. How many Courics?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/More_Crap
U2 RULES!!!!! U2 RULES!!!!!!!! U2 RULES!!!!!!!! U2 RULES!!!!!!! U2 RULES!!!!! BEST BAND EVER!!!!! U2 RULES!!!!!!! U2 RULES!!!!!!! U2 RULES!!!!!!!! BEST BAND IN THE WORLD!!!!!! U2 RULES!!!!! U2 RULES!!!!! U2 RULES!!!!! IRISH BAND RULES!!!!! U2 RULES!!!!!!
ANYONE WHO DOESN'T LIKE U2 IS A COCKMUNCHING COCKSUCKER.
Case closed
Responses are closed
All remaining responses will continue to be archived. Use the TorrentFreak forums if you want to discuss something.