In reaction to the terrible earthquake Bono and The Edge performed along with Jay-Z and Rihanna at the world-wide telethon “Hope For Haiti Now” a newly written song ”Stranded”. The telethon was organized by actor George Clooney featuring other performances from Bruce Springsteen, Coldplay, Madonna, Beyonce, and more. “Stranded” was one of the highlights of the night as the telethon raised $57 million dollars to aid the recovery in Haiti. Producer Swizz Beats co-wrote the song with Bono, The Edge, and Jay-Z with recording artist Rihanna adding vocals to the song’s chorus. The Edge told the media that Jay-Z and Swizz Beats approached them with the idea of doing something for Haiti and they came up with the base of the song before sending it back to Jay-Z. In other news the band is working on a new album that is yet to be named with a tour in 2010 already planned.

The BBC acknowledged today that they went a bit over the top in endorsing No Line on the Horizon in a particularly over-the-top way. They were doing an interview with Bono and some other members of the band and brought out a strange logo that read U2=BBC. It’s kind of strange that anyone would do this. Besides, U2 is popular enough that they don’t even need all this kind of publicity. People who want to get the CD know about it already. Others will find out from their friends or from the news. Meanwhile, the BBC had to apologize today for what many commentators were describing as a taxpayer-funded commercial for the band and its CD. That’s probably about right and networks should watch out for that kind of thing more in the future.

Although we thought we knew that the Spiderman musical was on its way, starting near the end of February, reports are beginning to confirm that the show is to be delayed. Alan Cummings, who seems to be on the inside of the discussions surrounding the show, says that it’s frustrating to have to wait, but that the money just isn’t there at the moment. The promotional pieces and the website are slated to open in February again. It’s not too surprising that they haven’t been able to put together the kind of stuff that they need yet, since it’s a U2 show. U2 is known for their big effects and sets, so that it will be an expensive show. It may take a little bit longer to get the show up, but it’ll be worth it!

The 2009 numbers have been tabulated and guess what! U2 had the highest grossing tour of the year. This isn’t a huge surprise. They toured for a little more than half the year and hit many of the biggest venues in the world. Even though they always needed a couple days between performances so that they could have their stage put up in the place. They have smoked out the competition, having sold more than 1.3 million tickets. If you divide that throughout the year, the average is a rather ridiculous number. This proves that while Dave Matthews might have been the “artist of the decade”, U2 is still the top group more recently. Yes, our guys don’t tour nearly as frequently or constantly. But when they do, people come out in hordes to see them!

Bono wrote an interesting article recently in the New York Times about the primacy of file-sharing in the music world right now. He cautioned the film industry not to approach it the same way as the music industry has. One of the problems with the music business’s version was that they decided to start prosecuting people who are actually customers and potential customers. Bono is, however, suggesting that governments monitor the web for this kind of thing instead, so that the artists aren’t harmed by internet piracy. Say what you will about this idea, but at least he’s thinking about this big problem. I’m not in the music industry, but I do worry about the fact that even very good musicians aren’t able to earn sufficiently for their work. Bono’s not worried about his own earnings, I think, but rather looking out for the less-fortunate musicians out there who are suffering.