After weeks and weeks of abuse from all areas of the music business, it has only taken two months for a fellow musician to come out and defend U2.
The knight in shining armour is the former Smashing Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin.
If you wanted to have a go at the Irish band over their album giveaway on iTunes you better join the queue. Artists, industry experts and music critics haven’t stopped slating U2 for the experiment.
So far the list of critics has been never ending, Iggy Pop slammed the group, Pink Floyd’s drummer claimed the venture devalued music, Sharon Osbourne wrote on twitter: “U2 you are business moguls not musicians anymore. No wonder you have to give your mediocre music away for free cause no one wants to buy it.” And Rapper Tyler The Creator described waking up to Songs of Innocence on his iPhone to “waking up with herpes.”
Bono has backtracked a little bit on the group’s LP giveaway, after initially defending the venture. Bono recently told Rolling Stone: “It’s like we put a bottle of milk in people’s fridge that they weren’t asking for. It is a gross invasion! But it was kind of an accident. The milk was supposed to be in the cloud. It was supposed to be on the front doorstep.”
Finally someone has stood up for the Irish lads, the Pumpkins drummer stated that U2 “moved the ball forward for everyone.”
Speaking to Independent.ie, Chamberlin was aksed what he thought about the album giveaway. “I get asked a lot about my opinion on that, as a co elder statesmen of the music business,” Chamberlin laughed.
“I think what people often forget about is that we have to be in the business of our own brand. U2 needs to be in the U2 business. They need to make decision that will be bet for U2.
“It was a similar situation in the 90s with the Pumpkins. When the Pumpkins were on the top, you somehow become responsible for the whole of recorded music and everyone looks to you to define the rule.
“Really, it’s hard enough to preserve a business and a brand, certainly with a visibility like U2. They looked at the market, they made a decision and they moved the ball forward for everybody.”
Jimmy made the comments at Dublin’s web summit, it is currently taking place at the RDS. The event started earlier this week on Tuesday and it’s likely to attract over 22,ooo tech savvy attendees.
Since his retirement from the iconic rock band, he has kept busy searching for and investing in tech start-ups. He is now the CEO LiveOne Inc – a leader in digital and streaming entertainment.
