Monthly Archives: September 2014

Keep Calm…

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… And try not to lose your shit over the potential partnership between two of your favorite things: Apple and U2.

Or so I’m telling myself in the wee hours of the night before 1) I teach three classes, and 2) a big iPhone announcement that maybe-possibly-hopefully-prettypleasewithsugarontopI’lldoalmostanythingtomaketheserumorstrue involves U2. Much to my surprise, however, many U2 fans don’t share my enthusiasm. Here’s why this collaboration is good for both parties:

For Apple, it’s a product announcement involving the company’s cash cow: the iPhone. This event would get media coverage even if U2 wasn’t involved. But more than that, teaming up with U2 brings some added pizzazz to what promises to be an already big day for the tech goliath. Of late, Apple keynotes, while still the gold standard for tech announcements, have been a bit dry, due in no small part to the absence of Steve Jobs’ charisma and presence in front of an audience. Samsung (grr) paired up with Jay-Z last year. How much the hip hop mogul actually boosted sales numbers is irrelevant; what’s important is that it the event lent a bit of “cred” to Samsung’s image and created additional buzz for its newest flagship phone. No offense to Jay-Z, but U2 is in a whole other league when it comes to global visibility and marketability. Regardless of what anyone says about relevancy, the relatively “disappointing” sales figures of 2009’s No Line On The Horizon, or a lack of an album in more than five years, U2 is still the biggest band on the planet. I can tell you from firsthand experience that Apple doesn’t like to be outdone. Getting U2 involved with the new iPhone (and potentially the Beats music service) outdoes anyone, anywhere, for years to come.

For U2, it gets the band back into the public consciousness immediately. It’s an instant marketing campaign that will help promote the new album and (eventually) the accompanying tour. I can recall going to the an early 360 show and seeing the Blackberry ads all over the stadium and being sorely disappointed in that joint venture. Besides the signs at concerts and logos on merchandise, what did BlackBerry (then called RIM) do to help the band generate buzz? Nothing. In 2009, RIM was already on the verge of technological irrelevance, to say nothing of its social cache. A partnership with Apple would also assuage the second Bono’s two fears: U2 not making good music and not being culturally relevant. The first should have been allayed earlier this year when “Ordinary Love” was nominated for Oscar and “Invisible” launched on Super Bowl Sunday (which I think, despite lukewarm critical and chart success, is a great song; I wrote about the song for @U2). Not only is Apple technological relevant, but the company also occupies a front-and-center public profile thanks in large part to the ubiquity of iPhones and iPods.

Additionally, teaming with Apple shows that the band has (once again) embraced the latest trends in digital media. In the early 1990’s, that was the whole ethos behind the groundbreaking Zoo TV tour, albeit with an ironic twist. A decade ago, U2 and Apple worked together when the latter was the undisputed king of mobile digital music. Before the iPhone, the iPod was Apple’s moneymaker, and U2 was in on it. There were several iPod commercials and products featuring the band: silhouette campaign (here’s the extended version),  video iPod, and the special edition U2 iPod. Still need further proof that the Apple/U2 relationship is deep? Open up the Music app on in iOS and look at the “Artists” option at the bottom of the screen. Look familiar? Even through all the software updates and upgrades, it’s been Bono’s silhouette for years.

Bono:iTunes

 As for the issue of how the band will be involved tomorrow… well that’s a whole other discussion. In a nutshell, here’s what I envision for the partnership:

U2 is this announcement’s “one last thing.” Tim Cook announces a collaboration with U2 that includes a redemption code for the iTunes store. This code allows the new iPhone owner to download the band’s newest album (whenever that drops; I think October) that will feature digital content like music videos, interviews, and live performances. This would help boost sales figures, which would make both the band and the record company happy. Accompanying the new record be a new official U2 app that will be linked to a newly redesigned website that focuses on fan interaction. Behind the scenes footage, exclusive interviews and photos, unreleased tracks, digital wallpapers, along with a one-year subscription to the fan club, which will offer more goodies. The announcement ends with U2 playing a short set.

I’m trying not to get ahead of myself here, but the sheer excitement is making me thing crazy things. This is all “pie in the sky” speculation, of course, but it’s going on six years since the band’s last full-length studio record, so I think U2 fans will can be forgiven for getting a little giddy. All this conjecture does set us up for some massive disappointment, but such is the life of a die-hard fan.

This arrangement is a good thing, folks. It has the potential to be a game-changer. Odds are it won’t be the earth-shattering event my imagination has vividly outlined, but with these two global icons in cahoots, it’s not out of the realm of possibility. Both Apple and U2 have been game-changers for their respective fields. Who’s to say it can’t happen again tomorrow?

Version 2.0

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Welcome to the second iteration of this blog.

Why restart this site? And why now? It’s simple, really: I need to jump start my music theory writing. Allow me to explain.

Finding balance in life is proving a mighty challenge, especially now that I’ve got a family of my own. Family will always come first, but because I am the primary breadwinner in my family, I cannot afford to shrug off my professional responsibilities. And, as I am now discovering, achieving a balance within each portion of my life is also difficult proposition. With a lot of discussion, planning, and trial and error, my wife and I have done a great job so far at finding time to be husband and wife amidst the hurricane of being Daddy and Mommy. Professionally, however, I’ve struggled.

This summer was a wonderful and much needed break from all things professional. I’m thankful for the time off, but now I’m having trouble getting back into a research groove because I was checked out for so long. Professionally, I consider myself a teacher first and a researcher second. I’m fortunate that FGCU values teaching as the most important aspect of being on the faculty. But, no matter how valued teaching is, long-term career stability and mobility are difficult to achieve in the field of music theory without paying attention to the other two academic pillars: scholarship and service. At this stage of my career, publication is the name of the game. And, the thing is, I love analyzing music. There’s a bevy of analytical riches buried in U2’s music, just waiting for someone to discover them and write about them. It’s just that I’m so mentally exhausted after teaching and planning that I’ve put my analytical writing on the proverbial back burner. I’ve taught these class before, so I didn’t anticipate teaching and planning to be as tiring as it has turned out to be. We even changed textbooks to one with which I am quite familiar because I used it at my previous institution. But, the change in textbooks was my suggestion, so I’m nervous about the success of its implementation. In addition to the textbook change, I’m also anxious because I’m trying several new things this semester: integration of Canvas, the University’s online system, into the daily class flow; extensive use of an iPad in class; a new organizational system for my lesson plans. Nervousness at the beginning of the school year is normal, but the anxiety about my new workflow has stymied my motivation to do research. I’m finally settling into it, though, so now is the time to get back into research game.

Which brings me back to the reason I’m restarting this blog. When I was younger, my dad told me repeatedly told me that I could improve my writing by reading more and writing regularly. 25 years later, I’m finally going to start following my his advice. I want to use this blog as a creative outlet (sometimes, I need more than 140 characters) that will steer me back into a research routine. Hopefully, writing begets (good) writing. I figure that if I can get the creative writing juices flowing again at least on a semi-regular basis, then I can find the inspiration/motivation to analyze music and write about it. I’ve been thinking about getting back into this site for a while now, but never could justify the time and energy it requires. Not only do I want to write, I need to write. I’m hoping this blog will provide the impetus I need to finish the projects I’ve started and begin new ones.