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

[Chupa Chupa]

Apple gave everyone a gift by *purchasing* the album. You had your device(s) configured to automatically download purchases. It would take 3 minutes of your life to remove the album. I fail to see what justifies getting upset over this.

It's not really about U2. What was a gift here to you was spam to others. That's the point. Maybe you don't mind spam, I don't know, but most find it annoying at the least. No company should automatically push unrequested anything on anyone's private device. If Apple can promote U2 this way and succeed then they can do it for any two-bit artist, any TV show, any book, any movie. Those all have a monetary value attached to them, but not necessarily valued universally.

 

[l00pback]

For those who think this isn't a big deal at all and people are just whiners, let's imagine this hypothetical situation.

Let's say Apple purchased Snapchat for two billion dollars. In order to make that purchase worth it, they want all iPhone and iPad users to start using it. So, they push the app onto everyone's device.

Would this be a problem, or would you simply shrug it off and say it's not a big deal?

I just got my iPhone 6 last night. Numbers, Pages and Keynote were all pre-installed. Should I be outraged?

I just moved them into my "Apple Apps" folder, and moved on with my life. No big deal.

 

[spectrumfox]

I just got my iPhone 6 last night. Numbers, Pages and Keynote were all pre-installed. Should I be outraged?

I just moved them into my "Apple Apps" folder, and moved on with my life. No big deal.

Those are iOS apps written specifically by Apple and offered with the device.

Not quite the same as a pushed third-party app, or a rock album.

 

[RobertMartens]

Dude.. Read the Terms and Conditions you agreed to when you clicked "agree" and decided to use a product/service designed and operated by someone else as a business... If you don't like it, operate your own... It's a money making platform, not an inalienable human right...

I see we have some pro NSA people in the audience tonight. Welcome welcome

 

[oldmacs]

WHO BLOODY CARES. Personally I enjoyed the songs. Just delete it if its annoying you.

Apple can not get it right. Anyone would think that giving away something would be a good thing, but oh no.

Also I'm pretty sure I had to go to the iTunes store to download it.. I think It showed up in your purhcases if you had show all music on, but it didn't download for me?

 

[gavroche]

The band who's 2011 tour was the highest grossing revenue of all time, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and has won more Grammy's than any other artist of all time isn't relevant?

Interesting (and incorrect) position.

It interesting these days how little youth know about music history, or music more than a couple years old. I grew up listening to music in he 80's.... That's my base genre... But myself and all my friends still were familiar with prominent artists from the 70's, 60's, and 50's. And we recognized that a lot of artists we liked got their inspiration from past generations of artists. We didn't ridicule them.

 

[vpro]

no big deal

I just got my iPhone 6 last night. Numbers, Pages and Keynote were all pre-installed. Should I be outraged?

I just moved them into my "Apple Apps" folder, and moved on with my life. No big deal.

No big deal, I'm cool and hip, look at me, look at me, I'm moving things virtually here and there, moving - grooving and singing my own tune. LA LA LA!

Good on you guy!

 

[nikhsub1]

It's only an auto download if that is how you have itunes set no? I don't have anything auto download except app updates so I never saw the album. I have access to it but it didn't download.

 

[collinsra]

No big deal, I'm cool and hip, look at me, look at me, I'm moving things virtually here and there, moving - grooving and singing my own tune. LA LA LA!

Good on you guy!

Ill agree, but I sure would like to get rid of that podcasts app, the contacts app, game center, etc...

 

[jimbobb24]

This is the firstest world problem ever

Someway gave me free DIGiTAL music. World ending. Oh no!

 

[flyinmac]

You know that free 10 pound phone book that gets thrown on your doorstep every year whether you like it or not that you have to pick up and dispose of yourself? Pain in the @ss isn't it?

U2 is that phone book.

Some people can only see the negative side of things. Every year I get a thick phone book from 4 companies delivered on my front porch and also to my mailbox. That's 8 duplications of information annually. So I could either complain or look at the bright side.

So, instead of whining, I put these generous gifts to use. I do a lot of camping in rain land. And I scavenge for what I need. I don't bring wood with me. So, I use these generous gifts of reams of paper to get the wet logs and downed trees burning to keep warm and cook for my family.

Always find the positive. Those who seek doom and gloom do so at their own destruction.

 

[dannyyankou]

Now I am curious. I want to listen to it now.

Give it a try. It'll only cost you 48 minutes of your time.

 

[joeblow7777]

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

I'm not American, by the way, but they absolutely should apologize. It was a boneheaded move. If they wanted to do something nice, they could have notified users that they had to option to CHOOSE to download the album for free. Instead they did something which many people understandably found overly invasive and just put the album on their personal devices without notification, consent, or an obvious way of removing it... like a virus. In this age of digital paranoia, Apple thought it was a good idea to remind their users that they can apparently control the content on your device without your knowledge or consent. That was stupid, and people reacted in a way that should have been obvious.

And what's Bono's rationale? That they were afraid it wouldn't be heard otherwise?? You're freakin' U2, not some unknown indie band!! Good or bad, your album is not going to go unnoticed.

 

[l00pback]

No big deal, I'm cool and hip, look at me, look at me, I'm moving things virtually here and there, moving - grooving and singing my own tune. LA LA LA!

Good on you guy!

Naw, I don't sing. You wouldn't want me to, anyway.

You're taking what I said out of context, and mocking me all the while. Bravo. I'm going to go have a cry now. You hurt my pride and sense of self-righteousness. <cough>

 

[supermoon]

It interesting these days how little youth know about music history, or music more than a couple years old. I grew up listening to music in he 80's.... That's my base genre... But myself and all my friends still were familiar with prominent artists from the 70's, 60's, and 50's. And we recognized that a lot of artists we liked got their inspiration from past generations of artists. We didn't ridicule them.

Not that it's statistically sound to generalize entire generations based on you and your friends... but maybe the empty and overblown music they're releasing now in an overly commercial manner is leaving these straw youth a poor impression of what they used to be.

 

[duffman9000]

I feel like calling out every single person that makes gear statements. First, you do not speak for all people... So do not say "people don't want this." Some do. Second, nothing was forced. You had to choose to download it.

I didn't like how their crappy album appeared in my album list without my permission. That was forced.

Bono confirmed yet again that he is a gigantic douche.

 

[JeffyTheQuik]

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

One of the best concerts I went to in the 80's was U2 at Sun Devil Stadium.

They wanted to sell it out, so the tickers were...

$5/ea.

They succeeded.

For two concerts. 140,000 tickets sold.

 

[flyinmac]

OK then, what if you live in a country where you don't have unlimited data?

I see a big problem. They didn't have to push it. I see something far more sinister at play here. Modern music charts are based upon downloads. When you have an album that has effectively been purchased by every single Apple customer in the world, then you cheat the music charts.

It's utterly disgusting behaviour from Apple and utterly disgusting behaviour by U2. I'm not surprised in the lack of morality or ethics by U2, but I'm totally shocked by the utter lack from Apple. They really are becoming an evil company.

Anyone who doesn't have unlimited data, or is worried about their data limits being exceeded, should already be using settings which requires deliberate action to use up their data plan.

For example, I don't have automatic updates enabled on my Mac, my pc, my android, or my iOS devices. Likewise, I don't have automatic downloads enabled either.

If someone is worried about data usage, they are manually managing it.

I for one had to jump through hoops and manually find and obtain the free U2 album. It took me about 10 minutes to find a way to cause it to download.

Take responsibility people. You chose to get stuff delivered automatically so that you wouldn't have to think about what you did or didn't want. The consequences are that a computer thought for you, just like you asked it to.

If you want to think for yourself, then do so, and turn off automatic computerized decision making and downloading.

 

[movieator]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm sure there are vastly more important things in this world to get worked all the **** up about.

 

[JeffyTheQuik]

I didn't like how their crappy album appeared in my album list without my permission. That was forced.

Bono confirmed yet again that he is a gigantic douche.

It was forced, like junk mail that has such a huge impact on my life that I get hysterical every time there is a any mail in my mailbox that is not important to me. I even get short of breath when junk mail shows up in my inbox on my server without my permission.

On your last statement, here's how I read it:

Bono confirmed yet again that he is a gigantic playground cleaner.

 

[spectrumfox]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm sure there are vastly more important things in this world to get worked all the **** up about.

This is all about security and privacy. With everything that's going on in the world with NSA and government and corporate snooping, I'd say this is right up there with things that we should get worked up about.

Forget its about a rock album and think about the core concern that people have. Then, hopefully you will understand.

 

[Solomani]

I don't think some will ever be able to win. So now there is too cheap (free) Even though I know hardly anything about U2, where did all the hate come from, I am sure they were more liked just a few years ago.

Anything Apple does will be met by a mob of haters. Automatically.

If tomorrow Apple says "We are celebrating Jony Ive's birthday by giving all iTunes customers a free $10 iTunes credit, automatically deposited to your iTunes account balance!" Then 2 days later, there will be a huge MacRumors hate thread complaining how Apple is a stingy billions-dollar company and they should have given everyone's account at least $30 worth of iTunes credit because "they can afford it".

 

[prometheus6]

I didn't like how their crappy album appeared in my album list without my permission. That was forced.

Bono confirmed yet again that he is a gigantic douche.

I have to read your post.. That was forced... Or I can skip over it... OMG! You could with the album

 

[flyinmac]

Just because something is free doesn't mean it is good or that people automatically want it.

I don't listen this kind of music, so I could care less.

Apple could also have given every iTunes user a $10 gift card or a free album download of choice.

No, that wouldn't work either. Because the whiners would complain that they don't want to be forced to use their free gift to buy something from Apple. And they'd be furious that they had to manually throw something in the trash that automatically ended up in their mailbox.

 

[farmkittie]

I just can't see why the free download is such a big deal. First world problems squared. Regardless of whose music it was, I wouldn't have gotten worked up about it. I can always fail to add it to my playlist. I've got a lot of songs in my library that I don't listen to because they're filler on an album that has songs I do like. I just skip them.