Bono is lashing out at illegal music downloading, while still acknowledging that he’s “overpaid and overnourished”. The original interview was allegedly with USA Today, but all I could find was other sites using the quotes. Bono says the music industry “has been thrown to the dogs” and that music is “a sacred thing” that shouldn’t be given away for nothing. Bono wants the cops to be called when there’s an illegal download in process. Ruh-roh:
U2’s Bono has admitted he is “overpaid and overnourished” in his latest attack on illegal music downloading.
The Irish rocker claims he is not the best person to speak out for musicians who are less well-off than himself, given his own financial status.
He said: “People think artists like me are overpaid and overnourished, and they’re not wrong. What they’re missing is, how does a songwriter get paid?
“Music has become tap water, a utility, where for me it’s a sacred thing, so I’m a little offended by illegal downloading.”
“The music business has been thrown to the dogs. That will change when file-sharing of TV shows and movies becomes as easy as songs. Somebody is going to call the cops.”
From The Daily Record
Though Bono has a point, perhaps he’s not the best messenger. Bono the person/advocate/tax-haven-lovin’ wanker (as opposed to Bono the lead singer of U2) has been getting destroyed in the press lately for his lack of … how shall I say it… authenticity on the whole advocacy thing. The whole “putting your money where your mouth is” thing, Bono’s not so good at that. It just seems like the more Bono talks about how rich he is and how he wants people to go to jail for trying to get something for free, he looks like a corporate CEO complaining about taxes. It’s just not rock and roll.
Bono is shown outside the Chateau Marmont on 3/9/09. Credit: WENN.com
I agree. Bono is a rather execrable individual who appears to be willing to say and do ANYTHING for the sake of self-glorification.
Sometimes I think that he (along with Bob Geldof and Angelina Jolie), think that being mere celebrities is equal to being important historical figures, and go about life playing the part of ‘Great One Who Changed History’, while offering nothing but publicist-generated media frenzies to justify their arrogance.
As for illegal downloads being a threat to the music industry… Well, he’s right about that. However, if music were as sacred as he claims it is, maybe greater care would be put into offering something beautiful, instead of digitalized rubbish that is VERY overpriced indeed.
I don’t see why people should pay for an entire record that has only two passable songs, or pay an exorbitant price for legally downloading a record the production and hosting costs of which are minimal.
People are already downloading movies and tv shows for nothing…!
I don’t know how people can stand the sound of MP3’s. Compared to a CD or an LP, they sound horrible. Nothing but compressed, digital noise with half the information missing.
The artists make up 80% of their money on tour anyway, so why should he care? Bite it Bono, you millionaire. Illegal downloads are not a threat to the music industry as much as the company owner’s outrageous prices and dinosaur-like marketing strategy are- not to mention their over-weening attempts at prosecution. For every 1 actual deliberate dirty pirate they get they prosecute 20 innocent people who let their grand-kids use the home computer and have never heard of Emule, P2P or BitTorrent.
It’s been my experience of late the price for entertainment keeps rising but quality keeps declining. I’m not cracking my wallet to pay 15 dollars, or even 5 dollars for the privilege of owning the 2 songs out of 12 on an album that don’t suck. Same for movies. I’m not sitting in a dirty smelly theater with two squalling babies and six people yapping on cellphones to watch a remake of a sequel of a remake of an adaptation of some book written for 12 year olds. Give me quality entertainment worth my investment and then I’ll quit tipping my hat to the pirates.
Considering how much thse fools are paid, we should get better than the stuff they’re offering.
“think that being mere celebrities is equal to being important historical figures, and go about life playing the part of ‘Great One Who Changed History’,”
Ah yes, the constant rehearsals for the Nobel they KNOW is coming. All because they point out the obvious and expect overworked taxpayers to worry about when they have more substantial things to occupy themselves with, like keeping or finding a job.
Dear Bono,
You are an out-of-touch dink and a gobshite of colossal proportions:
Just so you and I are clear on this, for 3/4 of the world’s population, CLEAN WATER OUT OF A TAP IS A SACRED THING.
Up yours,
Baho.
P.S. Is that your social conscience you’re trying to find up your ass in the second picture?
Ta!
Amen, Baho!
I agree with him when he says that music is a sacred thing. But my wallet too is a sacred thing when I have to choose if it’s better to buy an album with merely 2 good songs or to save my money for more important things than overnourishing obese rockstars who don’t make a decent album since 1997.
In any case I prefer to download an album: if it’s good I’ll buy it. If it’s bad, i won’t listen to it again.
If I had the money he has I’d be the saviour of the music labels.
For now I’m just the saviour of my own wallet.
I have one thing to say. The Mars Volta. Now there is a real band, whereas there are only two songs in U2’s entire 30-year catalog that I would ever listen to again.
@ Baho and Pont…WELL SAID!!
I love these comments!
i understand what he’s saying, he’s talking about the music industry as a whole and when people download music, the songwriter will get cut out. they will lose. not bono because u2 write their own music and bands that are huge will obviously still be rich. but it is still stealing and people tell themselves “these people are rich” to justify stealing a product so they won’t feel bad about it. for example many pop stars don’t actually write their own material and can’t actually sing very well, but they are in their prominent position due to their good looks and they are produced to sound good with technology such as autotune. they make so much money from commercials for pizza hut and mascara and stuff like that and then they lip synch a world tour and make millions and then the talented song writer gets gypped (sp?) because of illegal downloading and the people who stole the music for free are thinking …oh that artist is so rich she doesn’t need the money anyway. it’s not fair and it’s not right, and it’s still stealing, and if you think something is too expensive, you should protest by not buying it and if nobody bought something the companies would change the market.
I just think it’s amazing how so many people find no issue with taking someone else’s work product for free and then have the audacity to be annoyed when the creator of that work says he wants to get paid for it!
How many of you work…or would work…for free? Exactly.
No one would work for free. And no one would give its money to people who don’t deserve it. As I stated before, if I like the album I downloaded, then I’ll buy it. Yes, the artist deserves to be paid for what he does, but if someone doesn’t buy CDs because they are expensive then the above mentioned artist should complain with his own label. The time of buying things that have no value is over.
Jason, I said nothing about the ethics of downloading. My point is that the comparison of music being sacred and water as merely a utility is asinine and outrageous.
Water is a necessity of life as ‘Mr. Let’s All Save Africa With Red AmEx Cards and White Rubber Bracelets’ should know.
Let’s just say we’ve gotten a glimpse of what’s really going on in this poser’s head.
Pretty scary, I think.
dear bono –
please go back to your swanky mansion, your luxury cars and your private chef. also do us all a favor and stop making records because the last few have been lame beyond words. and speaking of words, just don’t utter any more in public, mmmkay? thanks –
everyone
http://clintheine.blogspot.com/2009/02/bono-stealing-from-poor.html
Bono – stealing from the poor!
It doesn’t get better than this!
U2 – frontman Bono, guitarist The Edge, bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen Jr – are depriving the Irish exchequer of much-needed revenue which could be spent on overseas aid
Apparently they have stashed all their cash in an offshore tax shelter!
The band moved the company U2 Ltd, set up to deal with royalty payments, to a finance house in Holland in 2006 after the Irish Government scrapped an artist income tax exemption scheme. The new limit was capped at 250,000 euros (£223,000).
Accounts for 2007 show U2 Ltd paid out more than 21 million euros (£19m) in wages.
Oxfam and Concern Worldwide are among 70 organisations involved in the coalition, which met Irish Finance Minister Brian Lenihan before protesters gathered.
DDCI’s Nessa Ni Chasaide said: “We wanted to raise our concern that while Bono has championed the cause of fighting poverty and injustice in the impoverished world, the fact is that his band has moved part of its business to a tax shelter in the Netherlands.”
She added: “Tax avoidance and tax evasion costs the impoverished world at least $160 million (£142.5m) every year. This is money urgently required to bring people out of poverty.
But what about the starving children Bono????? You selfish man! How about you stop telling everybody else what to do and live by your own pontificating rules?
I love these old ass musicians trying to justify bad record sales by blaming the “illegal downloaders”.
Make some good music and do your tours, if your music sucks its your own fault !!
Not saying illegal downloads are a good thing, but let’s get it straight – small, unknown artists don’t get paid jack for record sales. They’re usually stuck in contracts that pay them ridiculously small amounts per album sale. It’s the record labels that get all the money from sales.
Unknown artists get paid for ticket sales, NOT records sold.
Maybe when Bono grows up he won’t have such a sense of entitlement.
Fuck you Bono.
Why don’t you go complain to your piles money.
He get’s paid when he charges $100.00 a concert ticket!
True artists dont care about the money. For their love of the music they would give it to everyone free. Its modern day artists like Bono who are all about the money. Take money from your wifes ridiculously overpriced clothing line sold only at high end retailetrs to pay your songwriters! This guy has become the worlds biggest megolmaniac hypocrite.
this man.. once again .. ugh just STFU already..
Yeah, its the fault of the consumer thats these clueless overpaid & way overnourished ding dong execs @ the record co.’s sat around for 10 yrs and pretended that the internet wasnt happening , and they thought along with Tower & Virgin record retailers that consumers would continue to shell out 18 bux for a CD for all eternity thats got one decent here today gone later today pop hit on it.. AS IF..
then, there response to it all is to get the FBI to kick down the door of some 12 yr old girl downloading songs..
UGH.. the worst bunch of clueless hateful bullies..
It was Ok in the 20th Century when it was just the record comapnies who were stealing artists blind , when the consumer gets involved…. whoooa NO WAY..
this problem has been around too long to be addressed there is really no way to stop it now ..Tell you what create a CD thats REALLY sacred, and worth 10 bux with trax, pics and things you cant get without buying it and the problem will be solved…
STFU Bono, go kiss Bush/Condoleeza’s ass some more & petition for the right to never pay taxes again in Ireland…
While I am pretty much the opposite of an Angelina Jolie fan, from what I understand she does usually put her money where her mouth is. Bono, on the other hand, talks a lot of crap and hides his money in Amsterdam or something. He needs to shit or get off the pot, because this is just pathetic.
um bono movies & tv shows are already being downloaded as much as songs.. or at least, in my house they are!
The world is changing & instead of sooking & complaining, ADAPT.
Really cool and smart people like the wonderful posters here think that true artists don’t care about money, spend their time on celebrity gossip web sites, think that people with money shouldn’t care about the poor or oppressed, believe that music they want should be given to them free, and think Angelina Jolie is a saint for jumping around from country to country to avoid excessive taxes but hate U2 for it.
Go through a few posts and pull out “poser”, “out of touch”, “obese”, “self-glorifying”, “fools”, “dink”, “selfish pontificating” and you see a classic example of projection by a group of the biggest morons currently breathing, and it ain’t U2.
must be nice to be humanitarians that constantly private jet in first class around the world. Their lifestyle of excess and grandeur must help them truly relate to people living in constant poverty and crisis.
Jesus Christ, I hate Bono.
wanna stop illegal downloading????? so that u can be more overpaid?????? f**king biggest hypocrite on earth
He said music is a sacred thing and cant be given away for free?If he agrees that it should be paid for,then why doesnt he pay the real author of ACHTUNG BABY,the woman he ripped off back in 1989?