AppleInsider Staff
During a Facebook interview posted to the Web on Tuesday, U2's Bono apologized for Apple's handling of the "Songs of Innocence" LP giveaway, which caused automatic downloads for many users after the company linked the album to all iTunes accounts.
Meant as a gift to iTunes customers, Apple negotiated first rights to U2's latest album and meted the LP out for free in September.
The company spent a reported $100 million on a worldwide ad campaign touting the exclusive download, but drew criticism for attaching the album to iTunes accounts, which in turn caused unexpected downloads for those using the iOS or Mac automatic music download feature. What's more, customers were unable to delete or unlink "Songs of Innocence" from their online profiles.
"Oops, I'm sorry about that," Bono said in answer to a Facebook fan question. "We had this beautiful idea, we got a 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 mightn't be here. There's a lot of noise out there, I guess we got a little noisy ourselves to get through it."
Shortly after the debacle, Apple released a Web tool to help users remove the album from their account history.
Despite its troubles, U2's latest album is seen as a success after clocking 26 million downloads after one month of availability. In addition to full album downloads, Apple SVP of Internet Software and Service Eddy Cue said some 81 million people "experienced" songs from the LP through iTunes or streaming on iTunes Radio and Beats Music.
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67 Comments
I'm sure this has been addressed, but I think it's an interesting feature that Apple can force-upload files to any end device basically unchallenged (from a technical standpoint). That could be both useful, say emergency situations when emergency broadcast messages could be disseminated, or harmful. Random, kindergarten-level thought, I know. But still.
[quote name="emoeric87" url="/t/182804/u2-frontman-bono-apologizes-for-foisting-songs-of-innocence-on-unsuspecting-itunes-users#post_2619410"]I'm sure this has been addressed, but I think it's an interesting feature that Apple can force-upload files to any end device basically unchallenged (from a technical standpoint). That could be both useful, say emergency situations when emergency broadcast messages could be disseminated, or harmful. Random, kindergarten-level thought, I know. But still.[/quote] Except people only got the songs if they had Automatic Downloads enabled. It didnt download by default.
Bono should also apologize for that poor audio quality as well. Takes away from a brand new album in such a negative way. Thanks for nothing U2.
[quote name="emoeric87" url="/t/182804/u2-frontman-bono-apologizes-for-foisting-songs-of-innocence-on-unsuspecting-itunes-users#post_2619410"]I'm sure this has been addressed, but I think it's an interesting feature that Apple can force-upload files to any end device basically unchallenged (from a technical standpoint). That could be both useful, say emergency situations when emergency broadcast messages could be disseminated, or harmful. Random, kindergarten-level thought, I know. But still.[/quote] While Apple may or may not have the ability to force-upload files this isn't what happened here. In this instance Apple updated iTunes accounts to show the album had been "Purchased". The album only downloaded to end user devices if they had automatic downloads enabled for iTunes music purchases. Of course they did break from tradition in automatically updating iTunes accounts to show the album as purchased rather than giving users a choice which is where all the controversy arises from. Well that and the fact that not everyone likes U2 or they do but just don't like this particular album. I was very happy to receive it as a free gift but can see the frustration for those that didn't want it but were given it anyway. For the most part I think it was a bit of an over reaction but Apple could also have done things differently. I'm fairly sure I've read articles in the past on AI about Apple patents for emergency broadcast messaging that would allow them to broadcast messages to end users devices based on the location of the device. So if there was some sort of emergency or natural disaster in your area you would receive messaging delivered to your phone based on your location.
It's cool Bono, Apple, you can down load free U2 music to my iTunes account anytime