Bono apologizes for U2 iTunes album release - article with video

PJ_Soul

http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-29630291

Haha.

"A drop of megalomania, a touch of generosity, a dash of self-promotion and deep fear that these songs that we poured our life into over the last few years mightn't be heard.

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

2-feign-reluctance

Still don't see what the big deal was...

PJ_Soul

I don't even have an iphone, but I get why people were annoyed. As Bono admitted, it was just pushy. People didn't like it. That is not a good reaction for people to have when a band's intention is to advertise/distribute an album. Rule of thumb: Don't irritate your market, lol. I guess that's a lesson learned not only by U2, but by the music industry as a whole. Not only did it cause them bad press, but also didn't work at all. The album is the lowest ranking album on the charts that U2 has EVER had apparently.... and it could just be the music. They've had worse albums rank far higher. I would venture to guess that it has a lot to do with this bad press their method of distribution causes. A lot of people rejected the album out of principle.

PP193448

The album is so-so. Too poppy. Not like old U2 rock. Only few good songs. Maybe it will grow on me... But disappointed at this time.

PJ_Soul

PP193448 said:

The album is so-so. Too poppy. Not like old U2 rock. Only few good songs. Maybe it will grow on me... But disappointed at this time.

Yeah, I think it's pretty bad. Completely lacking in soul. But not as bad as their last album, and arguably not as bad as Pop (I wouldn't argue that, but some might)... which isn't saying much!

Nami

not the worst move in music history )

It was free ... still people complain wow

PJ_Soul

I think it just felt invasive and/or too pushy to a lot of people. Nothing to do with it being free. Remember, a lot of people couldn't even get it off their phone or cloud or whatever without Apple developing an app so they could.... At any rate, despite our feelings about it, if Bono felt he should say sorry, it was clearly a failed experiment!

Popmartijn

PJ_Soul said:

Not only did it cause them bad press, but also didn't work at all. The album is the lowest ranking album on the charts that U2 has EVER had apparently.... and it could just be the music.

Nah, I think the reason why the album sales are lower for them is because so many already have downloaded the album for free. From what I read, around 26 million people downloaded the album in full and 81 million people experienced some of the album (certain songs, playing on their iCloud or Apple Beats music). That's a lot of people.
I'd say that in all it has been a smart move by U2. They and their record company got paid by Apple for the giveaway (and I would suspect it would be at least as much as their recording advance is). Many more people have checked them out compared to having the album only available for sale. So they might consider these physical sales as just the cherry on top, financially.

PJ_Soul

Popmartijn said:

PJ_Soul said:

Not only did it cause them bad press, but also didn't work at all. The album is the lowest ranking album on the charts that U2 has EVER had apparently.... and it could just be the music.

Nah, I think the reason why the album sales are lower for them is because so many already have downloaded the album for free. From what I read, around 26 million people downloaded the album in full and 81 million people experienced some of the album (certain songs, playing on their iCloud or Apple Beats music). That's a lot of people.
I'd say that in all it has been a smart move by U2. They and their record company got paid by Apple for the giveaway (and I would suspect it would be at least as much as their recording advance is). Many more people have checked them out compared to having the album only available for sale. So they might consider these physical sales as just the cherry on top, financially.

Yeah, actually I'm just an idiot, lol. I forgot that giving the album to 100 million people would reduce record sales. 8-}
But still.... bad press. Never good for artists. If all they cared about is money then whatever.... I am going on the assumption that they still might give a shit about something other than that. Perhaps I'm being naive though!

josevolution

Yeah i bet the band is really hurting with such low sales , the album is solid from start to finish their tour will be huge will be the hardest ticket to get ....

PJ_Soul

josevolution said:

Yeah i bet the band is really hurting with such low sales , the album is solid from start to finish their tour will be huge will be the hardest ticket to get ....

Well I'll go to the show for sure. I haven't seen them live yet. I just hope they mostly play the older stuff. [-O<

But really, am I the only one who thinks it's kind of meaningful that Bono apologized and called what they did megalomaniacal?? I found that really interesting! :P

tribejammer05

They probably should've just put it free on iTunes and said if you want it go get it.

PJ_Soul

tribejammer05 said:

They probably should've just put it free on iTunes and said if you want it go get it.

For sure, or put it on their own website for free download. That's what other bands have done, like NIN, and everyone was happy instead of annoyed.

JK_Livin

People love to complain about anything and everything. Bono should have have told everyone that didn't like the free music to go F themselves. People just making noise so "THEY" can be heard. Congrats everyone.

PJ_Soul

I don't personally think that's what is going on JK. Again, no one has anything against free music (obviously). This seems more about people feeling like they were actually spammed by the music. There is a difference.

scurtis

Should have followed the Radiohead model for In Rainbows...

Offer it up as a free download, or with a donation of the users choice to a charity like Ebola Support or something.

Then those who want the free music could click a few buttons on their phones or iPads or whatever and listen. Those who don't want it, ignore it.

Having it just show up was too invasive.

Personally, I was pretty happy to get it, but I understand why people would be annoyed.

PJ_Soul

scurtis said:

Should have followed the Radiohead model for In Rainbows...

Offer it up as a free download, or with a donation of the users choice to a charity like Ebola Support or something.

Then those who want the free music could click a few buttons on their phones or iPads or whatever and listen. Those who don't want it, ignore it.

Having it just show up was too invasive.

Personally, I was pretty happy to get it, but I understand why people would be annoyed.

Yeah, having no iphone, I was glad to be able to go to itunes and download it. Great (even though the album isn't very good). And yes, adding an optiional donation feature would have been great! They are a very philanthropic band, and that probably would have gotten a lot of positive attention.

Popmartijn

PJ_Soul said:

But really, am I the only one who thinks it's kind of meaningful that Bono apologized and called what they did megalomaniacal?? I found that really interesting! :P

I thought it was just Bono being Bono. And I also think that the media are making way much more out of this 'apology' than was meant by Bono/the band.

Treyert14

Am I the only one that didn't get it on my phone?? Lol

JimmyV

Apple should be apologizing, not U2. The band didn't put something on your phone or in your cloud or whatever. Apple did that and probably will again if the right deal materializes.

JWPearl

sorry to high jack this thread but pj do u2's song YAHWEH, does anyone know which boots its on...

PJ_Soul

JimmyV said:

Apple should be apologizing, not U2. The band didn't put something on your phone or in your cloud or whatever. Apple did that and probably will again if the right deal materializes.

Well, U2 totally agreed to it being done and got paid a huge amount of money for it to be done. It's not like Apple just took their album and sent it out to everyone's phone and U2 had nothing to do with it. In fact, the chances that it was U2 who approached Apple instead of the other way around are pretty damn good. But even if that's not the case, U2 happily agreed.... and made $100 million for it!

JimmyV

U2 got paid, sure, but they didn't access a single person's phone. Apple did that. The alleged crime was violation of privacy, and it was Apple who committed that act. It is good publicity for Bono to apologize. I just don't think he or the band are the ones at fault.

PJ_Soul

That is true. I do think the band is partially to blame, but yes, it's Apple that had the ability to be invasive and the one that ultimately made it happen to their unsuspecting customers.

Empty Glass

2-feign-reluctance said:

Still don't see what the big deal was...

Agree. It popped up on my phone, I listened. A few days later I listened to 2 or 3 songs I liked and just passed over it from then on. I pass over 100s of albums that I paid for and don't get pissed
)

brianlux

Bono has always had a massive ego. It's a part of who he is and understandable to some extent- he and his band have created some great music over the years. But for me that ego has become this massive facade that I can't get my head and ears around anymore. Once a favorite band of mine (I went nuts at the War tour show at the S.F> Civic in '83) now very seldom listed to.

PJ_Soul

brianlux said:

Bono has always had a massive ego. It's a part of who he is and understandable to some extent- he and his band have created some great music over the years. But for me that ego has become this massive facade that I can't get my head and ears around anymore. Once a favorite band of mine (I went nuts at the War tour show at the S.F> Civic in '83) now very seldom listed to.

I still love all their early stuff, and never listen to anything put out after 1991. Still one of my fave bands for all of that.... but now they suck.
It's fair that some people didn't give a shit about this.... but a lot of other people did, and I understand where they're coming from. Not about U2 as much as it is the negative nuances of how tech companies are using technology as invasive modes of advertising. If we were in a communications course this would be a major discussion that papers would be written on, lol.

Empty Glass

Has anyone ever read the Apple itunes policies document? I sure haven't, but I click "agree" every time. It'd be funny if someone takes Apple to court and Apple provides the following:

Page 2483 Article IX Paragraph 9G - we reserve the right to give you U2 albums for free )

PJ_Soul

Empty Glass said:

Has anyone ever read the Apple itunes policies document? I sure haven't, but I click "agree" every time. It'd be funny if someone takes Apple to court and Apple provides the following:

Page 2483 Article IX Paragraph 9G - we reserve the right to give you U2 albums for free )

Lol.
Well it's awesome if they make it available for free. I don't have an iphone but downloaded it from itunes (and did not like the album, lol). But I don't see why they had to just stick in on everyone's cloud, and therefore everyone's phone if they didn't have the settings just right, and in a way that then required a special app to remove it.

Empty Glass

PJ_Soul said:

Empty Glass said:

Has anyone ever read the Apple itunes policies document? I sure haven't, but I click "agree" every time. It'd be funny if someone takes Apple to court and Apple provides the following:

Page 2483 Article IX Paragraph 9G - we reserve the right to give you U2 albums for free )

Lol.
Well it's awesome if they make it available for free. I don't have an iphone but downloaded it from itunes (and did not like the album, lol). But I don't see why they had to just stick in on everyone's cloud, and therefore everyone's phone if they didn't have the settings just right, and in a way that then required a special app to remove it.

Special app or wait until 10/18 or whenever....c'mon Soul it's not like they dropped it on your cloud and took $18.99 from your bank account until release day (or did they :-SS)

PJ_Soul

Empty Glass said:

PJ_Soul said:

Empty Glass said:

Has anyone ever read the Apple itunes policies document? I sure haven't, but I click "agree" every time. It'd be funny if someone takes Apple to court and Apple provides the following:

Page 2483 Article IX Paragraph 9G - we reserve the right to give you U2 albums for free )

Lol.
Well it's awesome if they make it available for free. I don't have an iphone but downloaded it from itunes (and did not like the album, lol). But I don't see why they had to just stick in on everyone's cloud, and therefore everyone's phone if they didn't have the settings just right, and in a way that then required a special app to remove it.

Special app or wait until 10/18 or whenever....c'mon Soul it's not like they dropped it on your cloud and took $18.99 from your bank account until release day (or did they :-SS)

I don't even have iphone. But I am against this kind of direct viral marketing in principle. No sir, I don't like it at all! Slippery slope!