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Belfast Telegraph

U2's global 360-degree tour is generating enough cash to make your head spin.

New figures show that Bono and the boys raked in more money than any other music act in the United States last year -- earning a staggering £71 million from touring, record sales and other royalties.

According to the music journal 'Billboard', U2's earnings - which were dominated by ticket receipts from their ground-breaking tour - were almost twice as much as the next biggest earner on the list, Bruce Springsteen.

He had to make do with £37 million last year, although he will not have to split it five ways as Bono, the Edge, Larry Mullen, Adam Clayton and Paul McGuinness will with the U2 earnings.

by Kate Harper, CHARTattack

You know that vault full of change Scrooge McDuck has in DuckTales? Well, U2 could build one of those right now because they're truly swimming in dough.

The Irish quartet have topped Billboard.com's list of the top money makers of 2009, raking in a total of $108,601,283 U.S. (about $114.3 million Canadian) last year.

Singer Bono, guitarist The Edge, bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen, Jr. might have spent $750,000 U.S. (about $789,000 Canadian) per show on their 360 Tour, but they sold more tickets than they ever have according to Billboard.com. Their merchandise and website also helped them make even more money.

By Gavin Daly, Sunday Business Post

The planned U2 Tower in the Dublin docklands has been put on hold for another year. The Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA) has written to the backers of the €200 million project, saying it will not go ahead until next year at the earliest.

It is the latest setback for the skyscraper project, which had already been put on hold for a year because of the deterioration of the property market and the economy.

The tower was to be developed by Geranger, a consortium made up of U2, Sean Merlyn's Ballymore Properties, property developer Paddy McKillen and architect Norman Foster. The consortium was named preferred bidder for the project in October 2007 and the 130metre tower was originally due to be completed next year.

Los Angeles Times

Heroin and NASCAR, who knew? U2 fans watching the NFL playoffs on Fox this weekend surely heard what would seem to be an oddly placed song scoring the network's preview of the upcoming Daytona 500: U2's mid-'80s hit "Bad." The commercial features little more than a snippet of one of the Edge's most recognizable guitar riffs -- the few slow, glistening notes that set the table for the song's explosive rock 'n' roll release.

U2 hasn't exactly shied away from commercial endorsements of late, or massive sporting events. Also, anyone who has attended any NFL, NBA or MLB game in recent years has likely heard "Beautiful Day" piped throughout the arena or stadium, further linking U2 with the sporting world. Yet judging by some previous NASCAR-branded music releases, U2 seems to be a bit out of place with the barroom hits and country rock more closely tied to the sport.

Irish group took $123 million in 2009

By Christopher Morris, Variety

U2 predictably led the field as the top-grossing North American touring act of 2009, according to figures released by concert tracker Pollstar.

The Irish group's lavishly mounted 360 Tour of U.S. arenas grossed $123 million, selling more than 1.3 million tickets.

The band's closest competition was Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. The Boss' "Working on a Dream" tour grossed $94.5 million.

The powerhouse duo of Elton John and Billy Joel ($88 million), renascent pop tart Britney Spears ($82.5 million) and headbangers AC/DC ($77.9 million) rounded out the top five.

By Soraya Roberts, NY Daily News Staff Writer

The illegal downloading of music is out of control, writes Bono.

In a column for the New York Times, the U2 front man writes that it's time for America to fight file sharing with the same fervor and technology that it does child pornography.

"We know from America's noble effort to stop child pornography [...]," he writes under the heading "Intellectual Property Developers," "that it's perfectly possible to track content."

By following the content, the Feds can determine who's downloading it illegally and nab the thieves that the Irish rocker says have crippled the music industry, .

By Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson, Financial Times

"I figured out bad wine costs the same as good wine, so why not learn about it," says Paul McGuinness as he orders a $69 bottle of Oregon pinot noir. "I probably imposed that on the young U2. We had a practice when we were first touring. We'd economise on hotels but go to good restaurants."

More than three decades and 140m records after McGuinness, now 58, started managing four Dublin teenagers, the world's most successful band stay in rather better hotels and he has been able to put his money where his mouth is, as an early investor in the Michelin-starred Manhattan restaurant where we now sit.

It has taken us three hours to get to our corner table in the Spotted Pig, which feels more of a village inn than the London gastropubs it is supposed to resemble. McGuinness had suggested we meet first at Madison Square Garden to watch U2 rehearse for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 25th anniversary show.

In an almost empty arena, I have been granted a private concert and a glimpse of why McGuinness is one of the few people in the miserable modern music industry to be noted for their business acumen.

By Kristen Schweizer, Bloomberg

Oct. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Irish rockers U2 will step on stage tomorrow in Tampa, Florida, helped by BlackBerry's sponsorship of their world tour in a deal no record company could offer.

Research In Motion Ltd.'s "BlackBerry Loves U2" advertising campaign is part of a trend where brands are stepping into the breach as plummeting sales shrink music labels' marketing budgets. Once reluctant to be seen as selling out to corporate sponsors, artists are keen to sign up.

"BlackBerry made the TV commercial with our music and then spent many millions of dollars on media and TV worldwide," U2 manager Paul McGuinness said by phone from the Toronto leg of the group's multi-city tour. "They provided a budget that no record company could have possibly matched."

Kombo.com

If The Beatles can get their own version of MTV and Harmonix' Rock Band, then why not you, too?

Oh, sorry. I mean, "why not U2?"

That seems to be the recurring mindset among Bono, Edge, Larry Adam, and Adam Clayton, who bowed out earlier this year from talks with the developers to have their likenesses and songs featured in a special-themed version of the musical video game. But it seems that The Beatles' blast from the past may be just what is needed in order to change their minds.

Gabrielle Monaghan, The Sunday Times

It is one of the world's most popular live events but U2's massive 360° tour has still not turned a profit.

The concerts have generated €205m in ticket sales so far, but Paul McGuinness, the band's manager, said that the tour has not yet broken even because the daily running costs are more than €500,000.

The band started the tour in Barcelona at the end of June, followed by North America for a string of concerts that began at Chicago's Soldier Field on September 12.

"When do we hit the break-even point? We haven't hit it yet," McGuinness told Billboard, the American music trade publication last week. "But we will between now and the end of this leg. Not exactly gravy, because whether we're playing or not, the overhead is about $750,000 (€511,245) daily."