A memoir by Irish singer-songwriter Bono reveals the story behind the free U2 album debacle, which saw both Apple and the band become the butt of jokes on social media, as well as the subject of considerable anger toward both parties …
Free U2 album fiasco
If you don’t recall the story, back in 2014 some 500 million iTunes users found the U2 album Songs of Innocence had been added to their iTunes library. U2 and Apple viewed it as a free gift, but many were so unhappy about it that the Cupertino company was forced to create a special tool to remove it.
In an excerpt from his memoir published in The Guardian, Bono says that the idea was all his, and Apple had taken some persuasion.
“Woke up to find Bono in my kitchen”
Bono said he did expect some pushback from people who weren’t fans, but underestimated the strength of feeling.
“Free music?” asked Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, with a look of mild incredulity. “Are you talking about free music?”
Ten years had gone by since the Vertigo ads; we were in his office in Cupertino, California – Guy Oseary, our new manager, me, Eddy Cue and Phil Schiller – and we’d just played the team some of our new Songs of Innocence album.
“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.”
“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?”
Tim Cook raised an eyebrow. “You mean we pay for the album and then just distribute it?”
I said, “Yeah, like when Netflix buys the movie and gives it away to subscribers.”
Tim looked at me as if I was explaining the alphabet to an English professor. “But we’re not a subscription organisation.”
“Not yet,” I said. “Let ours be the first.”
Tim was not convinced. “There’s something not right about giving your art away for free,” he said. “And this is just to people who like U2?”
“Well,” I replied, “I think we should give it away to everybody. I mean, it’s their choice whether they want to listen to it.”
The artist says that they quickly realized that the reaction wasn’t about the music, but about the power of Big Tech to insert itself into our lives whether we want it or not.
But what was the worst that could happen? It would be like junk mail. Wouldn’t it? Like taking our bottle of milk and leaving it on the doorstep of every house in the neighbourhood.
Not. Quite. True.
On 9 September 2014, we didn’t just put our bottle of milk at the door but in every fridge in every house in town. In some cases we poured it on to the good people’s cornflakes. And some people like to pour their own milk. And others are lactose intolerant […]
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.
Bono says he admired the reaction of Apple CEO Tim Cook.
U2 iPod
Bono also tells the story of how the U2 iPod came about, after they persuaded Steve Jobs to feature them in one of the iconic silhouette iPod ads.
Cook never blinked. “You talked us into an experiment,” he said. “We ran with it. It may not have worked, but we have to experiment, because the music business in its present form is not working for everyone.”
If you need any more clues as to why Steve Jobs picked Tim Cook to take on the leadership of Apple, this is one. Probably instinctively conservative, he was ready to try something different to solve a problem. When it went wrong, he was ready to take responsibility.
The special edition later led to Apple’s support for Product(RED).
“There’s one other thing,” added Paul McGuinness. “Although the band are not looking for cash, some Apple stock, even a symbolic amount, might be a courtesy.”
“Sorry,” said Steve. “That’s a dealbreaker.”
Silence.
“Well,” I tentatively suggested. “How about our own iPod? A customised U2 iPod in black and red?”
Steve looked nonplussed. Apple, he said, is about white hardware. “You wouldn’t want a black one.” He thought for a moment. “I can show you what it would look like, but you will not like it.”
When, later, he showed the design to us, we loved it. So much that he’d ask Jony Ive, the company’s design genius, to look at it again, and OK, maybe even experiment with a red component on the device, too. To reflect our Atomic Bomb album cover.
The book is currently available for pre-order in hardback, on Kindle, and in Apple Books.
Photo: Daniel Hazard/CC4.0
