Bono takes “full responsibility” for iTunes stunt by U2
Bono has recently addressed the infamous iTunes stunt pulled by U2 in his new memoir Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story. The band pushed their album Songs of Innocence by collaborating with Apple, which helped them install their album to iTunes libraries around the world without asking permission from the users.
“I take full responsibility,” Bono writes in the excerpt published by The Guardian. According to Bono, Apple CEO Tim Cook was completely confused by the band’s decision to push the album in this way, but Bono dubiously insisted that U2’s musical gifts deserved to be shared with the world.
Cook told Bono:” ‘You want to give this music away free? But the whole point of what we’re trying to do at Apple is to not give away music free. The point is to make sure musicians get paid.'” The singer responded:” ‘No,’ I said, ‘I don’t think we give it away free. I think you pay us for it, and then you give it away free, as a gift to people. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?'”
Bono added: “I’d thought if we could just put our music within reach of people, they might choose to reach out toward it. Not quite. As one social media wisecracker put it, ‘Woke up this morning to find Bono in my kitchen, drinking my coffee, wearing my dressing gown, reading my paper.’ Or, less kind, ‘The free U2 album is overpriced.’ Mea culpa.”
While talking about the reaction, the singer commented: “You might call it vaunting ambition. Or vaulting. Critics might accuse me of overreach. It is. If just getting our music to people who like our music was the idea, that was a good idea. But if the idea was getting our music to people who might not have had a remote interest in our music, maybe there might be some pushback. But what was the worst that could happen? It would be like junk mail.”
Never Miss A Beat
The Far Out Music Newsletter
All the latest music news from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.