Bono also has been brooding for several years on the challenge of rejuvenating his chosen art form, the album, and locates much of the problem in the loss of the marriage of “listening and looking” that the vinyl LP once provided. He talked with tech companies, including BlackBerry, and worked with U2’s photographer (and now feature film director) Anton Corbijn to produce “Linear,” a dialogue-free, black-and-white road movie whose soundtrack was an alternative, prerelease version of No Line on the Horizon.
The secret, he believes, is to put display technology at the service of the musical experience. “It’s album artwork. Not videos, because videos demand your attention. You need to think it’s supposed to be on in the background when you listen to the music-a much more ambient experience. People could watch while listening-the way we used to when you’d open up, say, the Clash’s Sandinista! and get lost in the lyrics. ‘Where are they? Where’s Nicaragua?’
“This format is coming-the relaunching of album artwork. A plasma screen, poof! Your phone, boom! While you’re listening. Because music used to be an immersive medium, not just sonically, it was always the visuals, too. Elvis is an audiovisual phenomenon. The Beatles were audiovisual. It’s harder and harder to get people to pay for an MP3 file, but it will be easier when you’re getting something much more interactive.”