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Last.fm Shoots Down Rumors Over U2 Album Leak

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the eno-is-the-only-reason-u2-still-exists dept.

nandemoari writes "Internet radio site Last.fm has denied reports that it told the record industry which of its members had listened to a leaked U2 album. The site claims the entire story, published by Techcrunch, was made up. Last week the record industry became extremely concerned after U2's forthcoming album appeared on several torrent file sharing sites. While there is no way any users could have acquired the album through Last.fm, the site's statistics suggest that more than 8,000 users have played the unreleased album on their machines."

93 comments

  1. Looks like the privacy paranoiacs win this round.. by slifox · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Very often I see comments dismissing any reasons for not freely giving out any and all seemingly-trivial personal information...

    Well, this is the perfect situation for justifying the desire for what is now often considered excessive privacy. While some information alone may not seem sensitive, the conclusions others' might draw about you from it, combined with other info (like your profile data), may indeed be worth protecting.

    Of course, if no one gave out any information, the internet would be very blank... So clearly a balance between giving out personal info and linking that personal info together is necessary. For example, the only way I'd submit my playlists to Last.FM is if it were done in an anonymous fashion, such that my user account doesn't link back to me, my IP, or any other personally-identifying info. Otherwise, I'd be happy to include some profile info, but don't count on getting my playlist too!

  2. Does it matter? by jamesmcm · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Even if they were reporting it, the moment they started acting on the fact the ID3 tags showed leaked albums, people would change all their ID3 tags to leaked albums in protest.

    1. Re:Does it matter? by drinkypoo · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Even if they were reporting it, the moment they started acting on the fact the ID3 tags showed leaked albums, people would change all their ID3 tags to leaked albums in protest.

      Probably not such a good idea since the Supreme Court struck down the Fourth Amendment.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    2. Re:Does it matter? by DustyShadow · · Score: 2, Insightful

      How does browsing a last.fm profile that the user made public have anything to do with the 4th Amendment?

    3. Re:Does it matter? by Mister+Whirly · · Score: 1

      The so-called "good faith" rule has been around for a long time. This is yet just another installment of the same.

      --
      "But this one goes to 11!"
  3. Nice Relationship by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    While most industries rely on the tried and true Producer/Consumer model of customer relationship, the record labels treat their source of money as a Prosecutor/Criminal relationship. Let's see how long people are willing to pay money to be treated that way.

    1. Re:Nice Relationship by catxk · · Score: 3, Insightful

      30 years and counting

      --
      Don't be crazy anymore!
    2. Re:Nice Relationship by cromar · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I for one am tired of waiting! However, independent music has been making progress, and we are far better now than we were ten years ago. We have good music blogs that provide promotional mp3s, iTunes and Amazon (I believe) are both dealing with independent labels (iTunes indie section, is insanely great), sites like last.fm and favtape.com provide a means of leagally listening to music. Albums cost less than they used to: $10 or less compared to some CDs that cost $22? (I haven't bought a new CD in a long time... are they still so expensive?) eMusic is even cheaper (of course a lot of their content is deliberately misleading crap, but I digress).

      The beginnings of a shining revolution in media are here and have been growing. Of course that doesn't stop such travesties as DMCA, DRM, erosion of fair use, etc.

      P.S. Has the ASCAP been fucking around in anyone else's hometown lately? In my hometown in Columbia, Missouri, we have had the ASCAP basically shut down our "open mic nights" for anyone who doesn't pay some rediculous ($thousands) protection money. The one business owner I talked to couldn't afford that, and the ASCAP goon had scared her good *even though typically no commercial content is sampled or covered at these events!* Result: local venues catering to independent music have been nearly completely shutdown.

  4. I'm going to start leaking album plays via last.fm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Any new albums coming out I'm not supposed to have? I'll make some fake tracks and tag them appropriately. Heck, I'll even rate them unfavorably! Haha!

  5. Re:I'm going to start leaking album plays via last by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    I remember when somebody released fake U2 tracks with miscellaneous burping, farting, and cursing noises. They were a damn sight better than the album.

  6. The album is on Spotify by catxk · · Score: 5, Informative

    The album is available for preview on Spotify and Spotify is integrated with last.fm, so is it possible the 8000 last.fm users who listened to the tracks are perfectly legal Spotify users?

    --
    Don't be crazy anymore!
    1. Re:The album is on Spotify by Makarakalax · · Score: 1

      Quite. Scrobbling is an open protocol. There are so many ways to submit scrobbles. There is no way at Last.fm's end to differentiate between a legitimate scrobble and an illegitimate one.

    2. Re:The album is on Spotify by mmkkbb · · Score: 4, Informative

      The Last.fm "Techcrunch are full of shit" blog entry links to a little bit of digging done by Ars Technica showing that the leak originally came from a totally legit online MP3 store that started selling the album early.

      So yes, some or many of those could have actually paid money for a legal copy of the album.

      --
      -mkb
  7. last.fm data isn't really evidence of anything by _Shad0w_ · · Score: 5, Informative

    Or, given the way last.fm works, 8,000 people submitted the names of the album tracks to the site. Which you could just do by re-tagging other files, or just submitting whatever you felt like to the web service.

    The fact that 8,000 have apparently listened to the album, based on their last.fm submissions, doesn't mean any of them actually have. Of course it doesn't mean they haven't either; it's just that last.fm data is hardly authoritative.

    --

    Yeah, I had a sig once; I got bored of it.

    1. Re:last.fm data isn't really evidence of anything by DustyShadow · · Score: 1

      Good luck arguing that to a court. Maybe you need to go back to that "You Are Not a Lawyer" post from a couple weeks ago.

    2. Re:last.fm data isn't really evidence of anything by Coopjust · · Score: 4, Informative

      The fact that many customers bought the album from legally Universal Australia, which was the source of the leak, means that trying to seek out the cause or find who downloaded the album vs. who bought it from Universal Australia means that any data collection from Last.FM would be useless- no way to determine who paid vs. who didn't.

    3. Re:last.fm data isn't really evidence of anything by Technician · · Score: 1

      While there is no way any users could have acquired the album through Last.fm, the site's statistics suggest that more than 8,000 users have played the unreleased album on their machines."

      Sure, nobody could recorded it, ***Cough**Analog*Hole*Cough*** but 8.000 listened to it.

      --
      The truth shall set you free!
  8. Re:Looks like the privacy paranoiacs win this roun by theginjaninja · · Score: 5, Funny

    I think the bigger problem we have is that people are still listening to U2!

  9. Having heard it, I promise you by VShael · · Score: 4, Informative

    that 8000 people hearing it, have guaranteed 8000 no-sales.

    It's terrible.

    1. Re:Having heard it, I promise you by MightyYar · · Score: 1

      How will Bono put food on his plate?

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    2. Re:Having heard it, I promise you by LordKaT · · Score: 4, Funny

      Didn't he die in a skiing accident?

    3. Re:Having heard it, I promise you by webreaper · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It's an interesting premise.

      There's a school of thought that says the pirated music encourages more people to buy through album sales based on 'previews'. And yet the RIAA claim this sort of piracy decreases sales.

      Perhaps it's just that people hearing the full album realise it's shit. I wonder if albums sales would decrease even further if radio stations played the full track-listing before the CD was available to buy.

    4. Re:Having heard it, I promise you by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No. That was Boney M.

    5. Re:Having heard it, I promise you by hannson · · Score: 3, Funny

      No, he's just a piece of shit

    6. Re:Having heard it, I promise you by Cassini2 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      There's a school of thought that says the pirated music encourages more people to buy through album sales based on 'previews'. And yet the RIAA claim this sort of piracy decreases sales.

      Advertising based on word of mouth is fickle for advertisers. If you have something good, then it works better than anything else. People trust friends. If your product sucks, then people still trust their friends, and won't touch your product.

      Internet P2P programs like BitTorrent amplify this effect. Now, you can listen to something yourself, and figure out for yourself how much you like it. Thus P2P results in a dramatic decrease in control for advertisers. It is even more fickle than word of mouth.

      If you have a poor product, but from a band with a good reputation, then you want to blitz market the product. Let no one listen to it in advance. Have it show up at stores in massive quantities the day of launch, and sell as much as you can on the first day. This way you can scam as many people as possible for first day sales. With some luck, this first day blitz will cover your costs, and everything will turn out OK. The movie industry specializes in this tactic.

      P2P threatens to completely destabilize this advertising tactic. The record companies, which are really big advertisers, will not be happy about this loss of control. Even if P2P ultimately makes them more money, the record companies still won't be happy about the loss of control.

    7. Re:Having heard it, I promise you by hollywoodb · · Score: 2, Funny

      that 8000 people hearing it, have guaranteed 8000 no-sales.

      It's terrible.

      Well kudos to U2 for consistency then.

      --
      I may have to share this planet with animals, but I'm doing my damn best to eat every last one of them.
    8. Re:Having heard it, I promise you by drinkypoo · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Perhaps it's just that people hearing the full album realise it's shit. I wonder if albums sales would decrease even further if radio stations played the full track-listing before the CD was available to buy.

      I'm not much on psych (I think it is clear from my posting history that I am not a people person) but the news articles which might seem contradictory have already told this tale. People who download mp3s do buy more music than people who don't. They don't buy the same music. At the same time, it's clear that many people both a) don't want to have to worry about music expiring and yet b) are tired of buying CDs. I just had to explain this whole WMA DRM thing to my lady over the issue of some library audiobooks that she thought she could listen to at her leisure (nope.)

      Giving people what they want is the key to having customers. Being able to do it at a profit is the key to making money. The music industry has basically controlled what the masses want to listen to ever since the birth of commercial radio. Suddenly there is a new medium for media delivery which allows people to find out for themselves what they want and this has all the major corporate media producers scared shitless. That's what net neutrality is about, that's why companies like Verizon and AT&T want to control the entire network from end to end. When they can no longer tell you what to think (or at least, are just one voice of many) then you're going to stop buying their crap. If they can stop you from using the network connection you paid for in any way that they don't authorize, or at least marginalize any use of which they do not approve, then your mind belongs to them. That's why I get that creepy "big brother is watching" feeling when I see an Oscars Recap on the front page of slashdot. It's just another tendril of the media conglomerate reaching out to... touch me. In my private zone :(

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    9. Re:Having heard it, I promise you by rebelcontent · · Score: 1

      Perhaps it's just that people hearing the full album realise it's shit. I wonder if albums sales would decrease even further if radio stations played the full track-listing before the CD was available to buy.

      There have been "Hear it before you can buy it" and "Win it before you can buy it" campaigns on radio for many years. This has extended to full album previews through Last.FM, imeem, MySpaceMusic, iLike, etc. Even when the music isn't great, some fans are still going to buy it because they are just that, fanatics.

    10. Re:Having heard it, I promise you by rebelcontent · · Score: 1

      P2P threatens to completely destabilize this advertising tactic. The record companies, which are really big advertisers, will not be happy about this loss of control.

      Record companies have been dealing with this loss of control for almost a decade and are continuing to adapt. It's physical product retailers who have more of an issue as they are the ones dependent upon the street date to make their money, which is why so many have gone out of business.

    11. Re:Having heard it, I promise you by SatanicPuppy · · Score: 1

      It's not fickle, it just can't be quantified. If it can't be quantified, it can't be monitized, if it can't be monitized, you'll have everyone who makes even a penny off of advertising sales paying for studies that show that word of mouth is just like stealing.

      --
      ad logicam Claiming a proposition is false because it was presented as the conclusion of a fallacious argument.
    12. Re:Having heard it, I promise you by iminplaya · · Score: 1

      ...Oscars Recap on the front page...

      Certainly is lowbrow stuff. Definitely belongs in idle. What's happening to Slashdot front page today is very comparable to the commercialization and degradation of FM radio in the early/middle seventies. Thank goodness the comments and journals make up for it.

      --
      What?
    13. Re:Having heard it, I promise you by ion.simon.c · · Score: 1

      Thank goodness the comments and journals make up for it.

      </sarcasm>?

  10. poor victims of their own creation by Tom · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The poor music industry, I feel so sorry for it. For years and years they have driven the marketing machine so that everyone absolutely must get the album on the day it's out, or as soon as possible. Mostly due to the way the charts are calculated by sales peaks, but also because everyone wants money now.

    And now people can't wait for the release day anymore. Geez. Who would have guessed?

    --
    Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
    1. Re:poor victims of their own creation by LordKaT · · Score: 2, Informative

      anymore? I can assure that before the Internet, the music industry had the same "leaked albums" problem. Only they were combating street vendors in NYC, not some random torrent seeders.

    2. Re:poor victims of their own creation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It already has been released in Australia ya dufus. The whole article is junk.

    3. Re:poor victims of their own creation by KingAlanI · · Score: 1

      Magic the Gathering expansion sets have the same situation...a fixed release date, the manufacturer hypes the product to high heaven, and are surprised when people rush.

      Trading cards are a physical-only product that can be controlled better than music products, but the concepts seems similar.

      Though, although the physical cards don't end up freely distributed until it's "time", MTG forums are filled with photo & text spoilers in the weeks leading up to release...

      --
      I listen to both RIAA and non-RIAA stuff if I like the music, tangential business/politics nonwithstanding.
  11. But the main question is... by Linker3000 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Has the record industry found what it's looking for?

    --
    AT&ROFLMAO
    1. Re:But the main question is... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Jesus?

  12. Re:Looks like the privacy paranoiacs win this roun by jetsci · · Score: 1

    What if they implemented something along the lines of 1 time credit card numbers. Imagine you could be assigned a very random set of characters associated with your identity that would allow you to register for services and only trusted sites had access to the 'true' information.

    Then again, using a service such as this implies a central server with all the information and that is scary just by itself.

    --
    Bored at work? Play Game!
  13. Re:Looks like the privacy paranoiacs win this roun by Nova77 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    http://blog.last.fm/2009/02/23/techcrunch-are-full-of-shit

  14. pah by Xargle · · Score: 0, Troll

    "leak" is the right term, escaping like a trickle of urine down bono's juddery stack heeled old geezer leg.

  15. Legal way to get the album source of leak! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Universal Australia accidentally released the album for sale for a period of two hours, 2 weeks before the planned release date. That is how the album was leaked in the first place

    Many fans, including U2 Blogs, made accounts with Universal Australia and bought the tracks within that two hours for about $20. UMG can't just sell people MP3s for $20 and ask for them back- sale done, game over.

    1. Re:Legal way to get the album source of leak! by iminplaya · · Score: 1

      UMG can't just sell people MP3s for $20 and ask for them back- sale done, game over.

      Don't be too sure about that.

      --
      What?
  16. Bah - just canceled my last.fm account... by tyroneking · · Score: 0, Troll

    ... should have done it at the CBS buy-out but I got lazy.
    Last.fm has denied the rumour, but really, reality check time... a pig in a skirt is still a pig, even if you f**k it some of the time...
    How I will miss recommending totally inappropriate drum and bass tracks to my French classical music loving friend ("you have the music tastes of a 15 year old") and weird novelty songs to my sensible sister ("my brother is an idiot") and recording all the crap I play in Amarok on the last.fm playlist

  17. Re:Looks like the privacy paranoiacs win this roun by FredFredrickson · · Score: 1

    I'm not sure if I'm playing into a woosh moment, but paypal has a free "secure card" service that generates such one-time-use credit card numbers..

    Paypal introduces secure cards

    --
    Belief? Hope? Preference?The Existential Vortex
  18. Re:Looks like the privacy paranoiacs win this roun by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Who cares about U2 anyway!?!? Seriously, I hope they only have 8,000 listeners in the whole world but even then that's too many.

    Why?

    You see U2 sued the living bejesus out of the band Negativland over some utterly silly shit and U2 denied it for the longest time but then a few years ago U2 got caught in a lie. The link is to a conference in which one of Negativland's members happens to find the very person who gave a copy of their album to U2, a manager for REM. Yeah, lie to us some more Bono.

  19. Re:Looks like the privacy paranoiacs win this roun by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No, you did not walk into a whoosh, you did however miss the reading comprehension. The poster clearly alluded TO the existence of 1 time secure credit cards and was not suggesting the invention of technology he clearly knew to exist already.

  20. it was not me, it was my cat by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    All my torrents are downloaded by my cat. I've designed a device where my cat clicks. It's not my responsability.

    Will my cat be prosecuted?

    1. Re:it was not me, it was my cat by ettlz · · Score: 1

      Let's ask a similar question. Suppose that this time, rather than clicking on a button, your cat-controlled actuator pulls the trigger of a firearm aimed at living person's head. One hopes that in this case you'd not only be unable to deny responsibility, but indeed that you'd also be prosecuted for murder.

    2. Re:it was not me, it was my cat by prozaker · · Score: 1

      what about a device that is controlled by wind or some other uncontrolled phenomenon, where if it reaches a certain velocity or changes it's direction, it would do something.
      like wind = act of god? / act of nature?

    3. Re:it was not me, it was my cat by Ant+P. · · Score: 1

      In that case, you're still the douchebag that built said device and pointed a loaded gun at someone's head. Good luck in THAT trial.

  21. Last.fm Official Response by captainclever · · Score: 5, Informative

    Please see the official response from last.fm on our blog: http://blog.last.fm/2009/02/23/techcrunch-are-full-of-shit

    --
    Last.fm - join the social music revolution
    1. Re:Last.fm Official Response by psergiu · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Please tag story as techcruncharefullofshit

      --
      1% APY, No fees, Online Bank https://captl1.co/2uIErYq Don't let your $$$ sit in a no-interest acct.
    2. Re:Last.fm Official Response by gad_zuki! · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I hate the fact that your post has been up for an hour and is only at +3 instead of +5. What is wrong with slashdot mods? I guess they prefer conspiracy theories to fact as long as those theories validate their biases, namely that the RIAA has infiltrated all these music sites and that everyone is giving away their names and IP addresses. The conspiratorial anti-corporatism here is worse than usual.

    3. Re:Last.fm Official Response by waveformwafflehouse · · Score: 3, Insightful

      As an independent artist I was considering joining your service until I read this (from the lastfm.com Terms of Use):

      When you upload Your Upload Information via the Website, you irrevocably grant to Last.fm, its parent, subsidiaries, affiliates, and partners, without any credit or compensation to you, a non-exclusive, worldwide, perpetual, unrestricted, irrevocable, royalty-free and fully transferable, assignable and sub-licensable right and licence to use, reuse, modify, adapt, alter, display, archive, publish, sub-license, perform, copy, reproduce, disclose, transmit, communicate to the public, post, sell, translate, create derivative works of, distribute, make and export Your Upload Information (in whole or in part), or to incorporate it in other works in any form, media, software or technology of any kind now known or developed in the future, for any purposes whatsoever including, without limitation, for advertising, marketing, publicity and promotional purposes, such as developing, manufacturing and marketing products and targeted advertisements using such Uploaded Information. You hereby waive any moral rights (or any similar rights in any jurisdiction) you may have in and to any of Your Upload Information, even if such material is altered or changed in a manner not agreeable to you.

      It is a truly sad day when an artist forfeits the rights to their art with no compensation or guarantee of credit whatsoever. As your service relies on the creations of others, I recommend a Creative Commons license. Respect the artist and they will respect you.

    4. Re:Last.fm Official Response by mmkkbb · · Score: 2, Insightful

      From time to time, the Properties may contain functionality through which you can upload or submit information, data, software, messages, photographs, audio, video, text and other materials to, through or on the Website ("Your Upload Information")

      Most of the content uploaded to last.fm beyond your playlists is stuff that becomes part of artist bios. These are a wiki. You agree to similar when you submit information to Wikipedia. ("Such a notice grants a world-wide, royalty-free license, unlimited in duration, to use that work under the conditions stated herein." from the GFDL)

      --
      -mkb
    5. Re:Last.fm Official Response by nschubach · · Score: 1

      Yeah, and let the artists decide when and how long people listen to their songs? I love last.fm because I can listen to my own radio stations without someone cramming their idea of what "good" music is down my throat like FM radio or how many times a day I can listen to a song before having to buy it. If last.fm didn't require you to give up control of that copy of your song, artists would be suing last.fm for content control and play list pushing. If you don't like your songs being listened to, then don't upload to last.fm. It's that simple. People decide what services meet their needs in listening and if you don't agree to those terms, don't upload to the service and you won't get listeners.

      --
      Every time I start to have faith in humanity, I ruin it by driving to work between 7 and 8 am.
    6. Re:Last.fm Official Response by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They're talking about your play history information that gets uploaded to their servers from their software while you're listening to tracks in iTunes.

      This is so they can make pretty graphs of who played what track, and figure out what albums are popular this week.

      ie: the entire point of their social network which revolves around music.

    7. Re:Last.fm Official Response by prozaker · · Score: 1

      Last.fm> TRIXED!

    8. Re:Last.fm Official Response by Dogtanian · · Score: 1

      I hate the fact that your post has been up for an hour and is only at +3 instead of +5. What is wrong with slashdot mods? I guess they prefer conspiracy theories

      Yeah, right. We all know that The Man is paying you to say that. Bad karma, dude!

      --
      "Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
    9. Re:Last.fm Official Response by Pope · · Score: 1

      We have seen the moderators, and they is us.

      --
      It doesn't mean much now, it's built for the future.
  22. this is why by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I turned off scrobbling the moment I installed last.fm.

  23. Re:I still think "Negativland" is U2's best album by east+coast · · Score: 1

    I still think "Negativland" is U2's best album. I actually paid for it too.

    Sadly SST Records had to pay for it too.

    --
    Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.
  24. Re:I still think "Negativland" is U2's best album by leamanc · · Score: 1

    For those who don't get it:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U2_(EP)
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_Use:_The_Story_of_the_Letter_U_and_the_Numeral_2

    --
    :q!
  25. Re:Looks like the privacy paranoiacs win this roun by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Bono's singing sounds like Ned Beatty squealing in Deliverance.

  26. Re:Looks like the privacy paranoiacs win this roun by argent · · Score: 1

    Top Tracks
    1. Simon & Garfunkel - The Sound of Silence
    2. Tears for Fears - Everybody Wants To Rule The World
    3. Yasunori Mitsuda - Another Telmina
    4. Joe Hisaishi - River Side
    5. Air - Alpha Beta Gaga
    6. Led Zeppelin - Going to California
    6. Jeff Wahl - Linus and Lucy
    8. Joe Hisaishi - Summer
    9. djpretzel - Zelda 64 Pachelbel's Ganon OC ReMix
    10. Berlin Chamber Orchestra, Peter Wohlert - Brandenburg Concerto No.6 in B flat major

    Oh the embarrassment.

  27. Re:My complaint about U2 by Ihmhi · · Score: 1

    This reads like someone copy-pasted text from an infamous website and replaced "Time Cube" with "U2".

    --
    Random Thoughts From A Diseased Mind (Not For Dummies)
  28. Who is U2? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And why should I care?

  29. Julian Cope said it best by uncle+slacky · · Score: 3, Funny

    Apparently he once said:

    "I've just written a 17-verse poem entitled, "U2 - Four Heads Up One Arse".

    --
    Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it.
  30. RIAA versus "the record industry" by rebelcontent · · Score: 1

    The "record industry" did not become concerned about the U2 leak nor did it make the inquiry with Last.FM. The Recording Industry Association of America ("RIAA") did, presumably on behalf of Universal Music its largest and most powerful member. This isn't a matter of semantics. There are thousands of recording musicians in the U.S. and around the world who are not represented by the RIAA nor do they share their agenda.

  31. You mean this album? by chord.wav · · Score: 3, Interesting
    http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/4730213/U2_-_No_Line_On_The_Horizon-SHAREGO_320_KBPS_2009

    linking is the new terrorism :)

  32. Having heard the album... by Phizzle · · Score: 1

    I think their bigger problem is not its distribution. For this album, U2 should be trying to get this crap out for free and PAY piratebay and tagoo.ru to host this rubbish and include their crappy CDs with EVERY MCDONALDS HAPPY MEAL! This is, hands down, the worst U2 album ever! It is absolutely uninspiring and pitiful - you can definitely tell that this is just an attempt to make money - they are not even trying, there isnt a shred of their prior talent in it. This album to music is what Velveeta cheese is to cheeses - it is pasteurized and devoid of flavor and texture. U2 is DEAD.

    --
    I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own.
    1. Re:Having heard the album... by cayenne8 · · Score: 2, Informative
      "This album to music is what Velveeta cheese is to cheeses - it is pasteurized and devoid of flavor and texture."

      Yeah, but, what else are you supposed to make cheese dip out of???

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    2. Re:Having heard the album... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Give it a few more listens...It will grow on you.

  33. Oblig joke by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Bono, whilst playing a gig in Glasgow, got the whole crowd to be silent and then began slowly clapping his hands. He got the crowd to clap along for a while, the stadium quiet except for the rhythmic clapping...

    After a short period Bono spoke, saying that everytime he clapped his hands a child in Africa died...

    Suddenly, from the front row of the venue a voice broke out in thick Scottish brogue, ending the silence as it echoed across the crowd, the voice cried out to Bono "Well stop ****ing doing it then!!"

    1. Re:Oblig joke by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "thick Scottish brogue"

      Great. Now all the comments on slashdot are going to sound like they are spoken in thick Scottish brogue, in my head. At least for the rest of the day. Try it. It's funny.

  34. This story is old by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    it is released each time the geographically challenged one and his three mates releases something.

  35. Simple fix for that. by morghanphoenix · · Score: 2, Funny

    When you're playing something you have no possible legal right to play, turn off the scrobbling.

    1. Re:Simple fix for that. by wakingrufus · · Score: 1

      OR play something you have the legal right to play, and change the id3 tag to something yet unreleased! That will show them!

  36. Re:Looks like the privacy paranoiacs win this roun by harry666t · · Score: 1

    How about storing that info on one's personal server?

    Or encrypted and signed, then spread in the cloud, and you'd just hand out private keys that'd able to decrypt parts of the information, to trusted parties.

  37. Re:Looks like the privacy paranoiacs win this roun by KillerBob · · Score: 1

    Replying here so that it's at the top, rather than it being lost in the deluge.

    My local alt rock station played the album, in full, every track, the day before the leak hit everywhere. Not only were they broadcasting it over the air, they have a 192kbit live stream out over the Internet that can be accessed from anywhere in the world. (http://www.livelifelive.fm ... sadly, it's blocked by my work filters.)

    Something tells me the leak has nothing to do with Last.FM.... nasty rumours about them sharing info, etc., is really just fearmongering.

    --
    If you believe everything you read, you'd better not read. - Japanese proverb
  38. these guys are from England and who gives a shit by Poppler · · Score: 1

    See also: Negativland Interviews U2's The Edge

    --
    What's the ugliest part of your body? Some say your nose, some say your toes, but I think it's your mind. -Zappa
  39. And manwhile... by root_42 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Trent Reznor is giving away NIN's new album for free, and still making a load of money on the album through online, CD, vinyl and DVD sales. (see [1] and [2])

    I say kudos to this man, and his slightly innovative, yet very successful method of distributing music. I have not yet paid for the album, but already downloaded the mp3 and flac version, and I like it! I guess I will try to buy the vinyl, if I can get it in any of the record stores here.

    [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine_inch_nails#Ghosts_I.E2.80.93IV_and_The_Slip_.282008.E2.80.93present.29
    [2] http://www.nin.com/

    --
    [--- PGP key and more on http://www.root42.de ---]
  40. U2? the noise polluters? by ydoc04 · · Score: 1

    No, seriously- I don't believe there is even a real dispute here anyway. U2 does not qualify as music, so what's the debate?

  41. Re:Looks like the privacy paranoiacs win this roun by stephanruby · · Score: 1

    Well, this is the perfect situation for justifying the desire for what is now often considered excessive privacy. [...] For example, the only way I'd submit my playlists to Last.FM is if it were done in an anonymous fashion, such that my user account doesn't link back to me, my IP, or any other personally-identifying info.

    That solution may be fine for you, and that's all and good, but what about the exhibitionists among us? After all, it's the exhibitionists who are affected by this, not you.

    Personally, I'd just like an easy way to falsify this information (if desired). For instance with FireEagle, I can let everyone know where I'm located, but I can also lie about my location for whatever reason. The same goes with my play list, I should be able to publish my current play list, but I should also be able to import my amazon wish list of songs I am going to buy (as soon as they become available) and publish it as a my current play list. I should also be allowed to make up song names and artists names to throw all my friends and family for a loop. And let's say, should I ever decide to listen to "The New Kids on The Block" (or some other god-awful boy band that for some reason plays incessantly in my head), I should have a way to filter it out so that I can avoid the very public embarrassment of everyone of my friends finding out about it.

    And when I said "should", I really meant "I'd like to". I do realize that no web site is obligated to fulfill my every wish. And I also do realize that my opinion only represents a very tiny portion of users on the internet, and that for most users -- sharing no information publicly whatsoever is the default move -- and for those users -- I have no problem -- I don't even have any desire to change their minds on this matter.

  42. Again... by hesaigo999ca · · Score: 1

    Please...everyone knows their plow, say that an album was stolen , the tracks are missing, or that someone has caught some download of preview snips of a song, and presto, free advertising for their new album. They have done this so many times, I am ashamed to say that U2 used to be a band I respected because they actually tried to give messages to people about what was going on in other places then our own, but I guess this economic crunch has everyone in a bind!

  43. Re:Looks like the privacy paranoiacs win this roun by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Did you even read the summary? Nobody said the leak had anything to do with Last.fm, rather just that Last.fm's stats say that over 8000 of their users have played tracks from the leaked album, so Last.fm knows who did acquire copies of the leaked album.

  44. When will the record industry learn? by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    The "hype through radio" days are over.

    Earlier, it was common practice to hand out a few promo-CDs to DJs (and stuff their pockets to play it) to get listeners interested, though you could buy the disc nowhere. Then after weeks or even months of anxious waiting you could FINALLY get it, and lo and behold, no matter how crappy, it went from zero to top instantly because the hype around it was all it took for everyone to JUST WANT IT.

    Now guess how well this kind of hype works in a world where it is trivial to distribute any kind of data (i.e. also music) instantly globally?

    Release the damn CD when it's done. When you rely on hype DJs, you open yourself to this kind of problem. Stop dangling the CDs in front of your potential customers and tease them "Naaaah, you cannah get it yet, gotta wait, gotta wait...". We're not kids, you're not Santa Claus and the release date ain't Christmas. We're customers, you are vendors, sell it or we'll take it!

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.