Future ideas for Subscriber gifts and Subscriber specials

[pride346]

Much prefer CD's to Vinyl and less likely to get damaged in the post. As others have already said a 30 year anniversary indoor show from Zoo Tv Tour 1992 , perhaps Stockholm would be great ( audio or video) with Stop Sellafield coverage as an extra bonus included.

[Canadanne]

Just looking back over the 16 gifts we've had in the past - 10 CDs (one that also came with a T-shirt, one with a book), 1 book on its own, 3 vinyl, 1 set of art prints, and 1 DVD. Clearly everyone in this thread has wildly different preferences, but for what it's worth, here are mine: I've been happy with all of the CD gifts (some were better than others but they all seemed like a decent idea at least), and it was nice when they came with something else as a bonus. Books are always welcome and accessible to almost everyone (I'd love to see Willie's diaries from the past few tours, which are inexplicably not published on the website any more). I was also happy with the EI Tour DVD, although it's a shame they didn't release it commercially with a deluxe edition. The only gifts I've really disliked are the vinyl which I can't play (and have no interest in collecting) and the unbelievably stinky art prints which are never leaving their tube again.

In an ideal world, U2.com subscribers would be able to download just about any concert recording in the band's vault, but I guess that's never going to happen. It would be good if they'd consider sharing *some* of them, though - maybe let us request or vote for one every few months? I know they don't like releasing anything that's not deemed "perfect" but the fans really don't care about that, and there are certain recordings I'm desperate to hear that probably only exist in the band's own archive. I'd pay anything to get my hands on that material and I expect others feel the same.

[Manohlive]

9 hours ago, joey360 said:

I think we can all agree that we don't receive value for our payments

I  get value when I consider all that is offered with subscribing to U2.com. I have the opportunity to be a part of a community which becomes something bigger. It gets heated in here at times but everyone is respected.  I've gotten to know fans from all over the world and get to interact with them on a daily basis.  It's fun and laughter.

-I'd love a book with all the old Propaganda issues.  I'd love to read about the evolution of this fan club from Propaganda to the U2.com that we are using today.

 

Edited March 2, 2021 by Manohlive

[ZooTV8]

I’ve admittedly been a harsh critic of several of the past U2 fan club releases, particularly remix material that has been available elsewhere (e.g., “Duels” and the Desire/When Love Comes To Town 3D remixes with unimaginative artwork);  and odd-sized prints that cost significantly more to frame than they are worth.  Sorry; I never need another U2.com print. 

As a vinyl collector, I prefer vinyl as the physical format created for fans. While the 10-inch singles are nice and have typically had tremendous artwork,  they’re more of a novelty and do not hold a significant amount of audio. 

That said, I would enjoy a 12” vinyl pressing of a PASSENGERS reissue; and the U2:3D Soundtrack.  (I have a 3D blue-ray DVD player and 3D HDTV but 99.99% of U2 fans do not... The impact of the IMAX 3D film would be lost on a regular DVD release.)

Ultimately, 2021 is the year to celebrate #ZooTV30. I joined PROPAGANDA and have been a U2 fan club member for 30 years —because of ZooTV. I would really enjoy something unique to celebrate this  important anniversary for the band:

•Alternate takes/mixes of Baby and Zooropa songs (the genesis of the songs, not previously available remixes);

• Zoo Dollars

• CD quality live audio of an Indoor Broadcast performance —unedited, warts and all; and 

• Vintage ZooRadio downloads. 

Then, in subsequent years,

• POP outtakes and re-imagined versions (e.g., Howie B and Flood returning to revise mixes).

• PopMart 12” vinyl live concert (Mexico City re-release but with the full/complete concert would be fine)

• HTDAAB or Vertigo Tour 12” double or triple vinyl concert 

• NLOTH unreleased tracks (e.g., “Winter”, “Mercy”, “North Star”, and Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois’ ambient mixes of the album tracks that are more faithful to the original Morocco recording sessions) on vinyl. 

• “SONGS OF ASCENT”. 

• Edge’s solo film and stage/theater soundtrack releases. 

• MP3 downloads of U2XRadio audio bumps (e.g., “Songs The Saved My Life” acoustic guitar intro and The Edge’s “interrupt this transmission...” clips).

Everything offered should also have a digital download code; not everyone wants physical media. And ... fewer incompetent snippets of live tracks on the website, please. 

Thank you. 

Lance A Schart  
Chicago, IL USA 

Edited March 2, 2021 by ZooTV8

[EsmaCannon]

í would like a blu-ray of ALL the Super8 & 16mm film footage shot during the process of creating the "Achtung Baby" album ~ from the broom cupboard STS sessions, to the Hansa Ton / Winter in Berlin footage, to the Dogtown in Dalkey recording, to the Anton photography sessions in Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Morocco. We saw pieces of it in promo material at the time of release, and as 'interference' on the "Achtung Baby (the Videos, The Cameos And A Whole Lot Of Interference From ZooTV )" VHS tape. A 'whole lot' perhaps, but not THE whole lot.

There was also sections of it littered throughout "From The Sky Down ", where it was revealed that, astonishingly, the Dogtown Dalkey sessions had synced sound as well. í would have been happy enough if "From The Sky Down" had consisted solely of more of this footage. How much did Maurice Linnane et al record of those sessions? A blu-ray edition with this all this raw footage included as a supplement would have been entirely possible and sensible, thus it never happened!

All the footage from this period looked cool as hell, and it would be great to see in spiffy quality as a 30th Anniversary subscriber release. 

Is that a 'realistic' suggestion? All realism is relative, Baby !  😉 

.

[sukhjitkamal]

I would like to see more content and value within the subscriber specials. They could release a live show every quarter for subscribers only, available to download as MP3s and to stream, but not physically as this would be too big of a cost and would have to be saved for the yearly gift. If the U2.com model looked like this I wouldn't complain at all:

Yearly gift - available digitally and physically. 

Q1 Subscriber Special - Live Recording 
January - U2.com release a list of shows fans can vote for
February - End of February voting closes
March - U2.com release the live recording of the show with the most votes as MP3 downloads and available to stream through U2.com 

Q2 Subscriber Special - Live Recording 
April - U2.com release a list of shows fans can vote for
May - End of May voting closes
June - U2.com release the live recording of the show with the most votes as MP3 downloads and available to stream through U2.com 

Q3 Subscriber Special - Live Recording 
July - U2.com release a list of shows fans can vote for
August - End of August voting closes
September - U2.com release the live recording of the show with the most votes as MP3 downloads and available to stream through U2.com 

Q4 Subscriber Special - Live Recording 
October - U2.com release a list of shows fans can vote for
November - End of November voting closes
December - U2.com release the live recording of the show with the most votes as MP3 downloads and available to stream through U2.com.

 

This would give us 4 live recordings a year as well as the yearly gift. I think we would all agree this is well worth the $40 or $50 we pay a year. If they follow this model it offers much more flexibility in the yearly gift too. They could offer a book, print, DVD, documentary etc as the yearly gift and people wouldn't feel hard done by because they also get live recordings (which the vast majority want). 

[Vertigo4Life]

11 hours ago, Manohlive said:

I  get value when I consider all that is offered with subscribing to U2.com. I have the opportunity to be a part of a community which becomes something bigger. It gets heated in here at times but everyone is respected.  I've gotten to know fans from all over the world and get to interact with them on a daily basis.  It's fun and laughter.

-I'd love a book with all the old Propaganda issues.  I'd love to read about the evolution of this fan club from Propaganda to the U2.com that we are using today.

 

I really like the idea of a book with all the old Propaganda issues.  It's just so weird to read them on U2.com and it'd be so much better to hold it in my hands and read it.

 

While I'm at it, I'm also a fan of getting more live shows.  Right now we only have bootlegs and YouTube videos.  I'm sure that with all of the shows that are rumored to be recorded we could get some really great stuff from the band.  And there seems to be no shortage of shows that could be released, just look at how many shows were on the U2360 tour.  And I'd love some more Popmart/ZooTV stuff.  Especially considering that this year is the 30th anniversary of Achtung Baby.

[ramsatw]

You should take a look at The Alarm's new fan site: The Alarm Central.

https://thealarm.fan.direct/web/wall

It just started up, but it's got every studio album available, links to videos, swag, chats, etc. A pretty comprehensive fan experience.

I understand U2 is too big to have weekly chats on Zoom with their fans, but I think the overall experience could be improved a little bit, as many have said, with regular access to more music and videos on the site.

[Canadanne]

I'd love it if the gift were a collection of new or otherwise unreleased songs that have been rejected for inclusion on an album - songs that would have been released as B-sides if physical singles were still a thing. I'm generally more interested in hearing fresh material than live versions of songs we already know, and if there are songs lying around with nowhere to go, why not share them with the fan club? Even just the occasional MP3 as a subscriber special would be great.

[adamtaglietti]

I like listening to early demos of tracks (Kindergarten Achtung Baby) and even sound checks because I love the raw form. So demo albums would be a great win for me. I think u2.com subscribers or people thinking of subscribing aren't exactly your casual fan (especially in quiet non touring years) so risks can be taken! If Bonos voice doesn't sound great or The Edge's guitar is off, we won't care, we'll love it!

Another good gift idea, which other people have alluded to would be a high quality picture book (like that really expensive product design book Apple released a few years ago), with images from past tours, big moments, propaganda covers, etc...

Main thing for me with the gift is I want exclusives! Berlin (well half of Berlin) was on TV, I loved it but boy that was a cop out.

Away from the gift, with content on the site, I don't think there's much to entice new subscribers or keep subscribers happy - especially when there is no tour, its very quiet. The suggestion of full live song footage is great, the odd minute snippets are okay for free view site users but give subscribers the full ones! I just think with a band that's been around for as long as U2, there's not enough valuable content!

The watch-alongs were okay but they were just streams of DVD releases, which I'm sure most of us already have or have at least seen, give us new stuff!

P.S. I'm actually not too picky with the gift, just no remixes, please, I beg. Also last years gift - a DVD...in 2020...still upset it wasn't a 4K blu-ray let alone a standard blu-ray!