Call it a mix of ego, generosity, self-promotion and insecurity. But Bono is sorry for giving away U2’s latest album for free on iTunes accounts.
There were grumbles last month when the Irish rock band’s new album “Song of Innocence” was automatically downloaded onto Apple’s more than half-billion iTunes accounts around the world.
Among other things, some iTunes users griped that the record took up valuable iPhone storage space.
“I had this beautiful idea. Might have gotten carried away with ourselves. Artists are prone to that thing. A drop of megalomania, a touch of generosity, a dash of self-promotion, and deep fear that these songs that we poured our life into over the last few years might not be heard,” he added.
“There’s a lot of noise out there. I guess, we got a little noisy ourselves to get through it.”
I don't see the big deal personally. I don't use iTunes, but surely people can just delete it if they don't want to listen to it? It might be a slight inconvenience, but not something that people should get so worked up about, unless I'm missing something. Having your album automatically downloaded for so many people is something most artists would only dream of, so I don't blame them for doing it.
I reckon some other artists that criticize them for it are jealous tbh. Others probably think it's unfair (which I can understand, but again, it's natural for artists to want to promote their music as much as possible).
I think the idea was dope. The execution needed polishing.
This.
They should've just kept it for free in the iTunes store only, and then people who wanted it could simply go there and get it themselves. Not have it automatically in their library - or for me, having it stuck in my library until I was forced to download it just to delete it.
The thing is most people who still listen to U2's wide discography don't check their itunes as often, so it was kind of like "LISTEN TO MY CD GAGA" kind of thing for people who don't use them
I don't feel sorry for them. This apology should have been their initial response, when there was public outrage. Instead, they were defiant and arrogant in their earlier response. It's good to see the experience has humbled them down a bit. Even though the album is still terrible, and they pulled another stunt just for grammy nominations
People really do find the most ridiculous **** to complain about.
