U2's Bono Apologizes for Automatic 'Songs of Innocence' Album Download

[MacRumors]

In a Facebook interview where U2 band members answered questions asked by their fans, U2 frontman Bono apologized to iTunes users that were upset after the band's new album "Songs of Innocence" was automatically downloaded on their devices without their consent.

In the apology, Bono says that the group "got carried away" with themselves and were worried that songs they had spent two years working on "might not be heard."

Oops. Um. I'm sorry about that. I had this beautiful idea and we got carried away with ourselves.

Artists are prone to that kind of thing. Drop of megalomania, touch of generosity, 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.

There's a lot of noise out there. I guess we got a little noisy ourselves to get through it.

U2's newest album, "Songs of Innocence," was provided for free to 500 million iTunes users as part of Apple's September 9 iPhone event. As part of the promotion, Apple pushed the album to iTunes accounts, causing some devices to download the album without user permission.

The automatic downloads caused quite a bit of backlash, prompting Apple to create a tool to allow users to remove the free U2 album from their devices.

Despite the negativity over the auto downloads, U2's partnership with Apple appears to have been wildly successful, with "Songs of Innocence" seeing 26 million downloads from iTunes users. Additionally, more than 81 million users are said to have "experienced" the album, via iTunes, iTunes Radio, and Beats Music.

Apple's deal with U2 and Universal Music Group is worth an estimated $100 million and is said to be part of a "long-term relationship" that will see Apple and U2 continuing to partner up to promote innovation in music.

Article Link: U2's Bono Apologizes for Automatic 'Songs of Innocence' Album Download

 

[omgwut]

oh boy here we go

 

[seamer]

Should have had it as a click-to-redeem since it was time-based anyway.

 

[SilianRail]

Apple's deal with U2 and Universal Music Group is worth an estimated $100 million and is said to be part of a "long-term relationship" that will see Apple and U2 continuing to partner up to promote innovation in music.

Make it stop.

 

[BJB Productions]

lol Bono is such a nutcase.

 

[Torrijos]

Well mine didn't download directly and I had to cheat a bit for the download to start...

Some great songs in the album, and I give my thanks to U2 (and Apple? somebody had to pay I guess ^^)

 

[TsMkLg068426]

They should apologize how terrible their music is.

 

[tigres]

Love bono. But that is just from a guy who went to college in the 80's and saw the Joshua tree live.

 

[The Doctor11]

I don't think its really U2's fault. Apple should have said "Your out of your damn mind." And made it a free download through iTunes. Not an automatic download.

 

[Xenc]

Classy response given the situation.

 

[The Doctor11]

"long-term relationship" that will see Apple and U2 continuing to partner up to promote innovation in music.

No no no no! What the hell did they buy Dr.Dre for? Have Dre do all the music and get him to get Eminem to do some music. YES EMINEM I WANT APPLE TO WORK WITH HIM!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[apolloa]

The only idea U2 had was €€€€€€€€€€€€ signs in their eye's.

 

[Goftrey]

See? I don't understand why millions of people hate the guy?

It's not even remotely his fault that Apple decided to ram the album down people's throats through auto-downloading, yet he apologises anyway. If anything it should be coming from Apple themselves, not Bono.

 

[Wishbrah]

They've written the goal of Apple and U2's partnership is to promote innovation. If shoving a terrible album down everybody's throat is innovation, I'd have no problem tying a noose around my neck to avoid the consumption.

 

[sualpine]

Congratulations, America. You've forced an apology from someone who gave you something for FREE.

 

[gugy]

People just are making too much ado about nothing.
U2 and Apple, I don't think ever intended anything but give away free songs for iTunes account holders enjoyment. Sure U2 made money on the deal and Apple and the band got a lot of publicity but people acting like this was an outrage is just stupidity IMO.
I am happy, got a free album that by the way is very good.

 

[RobertMartens]

You can never really gage the "backlash"

How do you know how many people is "a lot". Its all just a few people complaining in the forums. Does that really equal 'backlash'. Really how can you know the true effect on what ever was trying to be accomplished?

 

[jmuntingh]

Not so innocent after all

 

[Goftrey]

They should apologize how terrible their music is.

Tell that to the hundreds of thousands of people who sell out the biggest venues across the world in order to see them live.

 

[burne]

I went to Torhout/Werchter in 1982, to see U2. It felt like a pilgrimage, in a way.

'A Day Without Me' was the soundtrack to one of my big love affairs.

I deleted 'songs of innocence' without hearing more than the ****ed up fragments that survived the live stream disaster. And I'm not planning on hearing more.

Having 'songs of innocence' shoved down my throat without any choice whatsoever was just plain wrong. A seriously bad move that destroyed a 35 year friendship.

 

[McCool71]

It must have been quite a shock for the old windbags in U2 when they realized that most 'kids these days' do not care for that kind of music at all.

Much like the abrupt full on crash landing kids that have been told that they are the centre of the universe for their whole life experience when reality hits them as they grow up.

 

[l00pback]

So, correct me if I'm wrong, but this wasn't "auto-downloaded". It was simply made available in our libraries as if we had bought it. The content itself wasn't physically loaded onto our devices until we clicked (tapped) the download button. I don't get why folks were all bent out of shape over this.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a U2 fan. I took the steps to have it removed, just as a lot of you did, I bet.

 

[Sean0227]

I'm not a U2 fan, although I don't find them offensive in anyway and their songs do remind me of college. That being said, the Songs Of Innocence download was a gift from Apple to their customers. There were no strings attached, nothing else to buy, and if you didn't like it/want it, you could just delete it from your device. I was disappointed by the backlash Apple received from this. All I can say is I hope the people that raised a stink about this "gift" don't treat their friends, colleagues and family the same way when they receive a gift they don't like and/or want.

 

[PowerBook-G5]

And the worst part about the whole U2-gate is that Tim and Bono were onstage talking about it, very excitedly, for several minutes.

 

[sualpine]

It must have been quite a shock for the old windbags in U2 when they realized that most 'kids these days' do not care for that kind of music at all.

Much like the abrupt full on crash landing kids that have been told that they are the centre of the universe for their whole life experience when reality hits them as they grow up.

Please go find something legitimate to whine about.