U2’s lead singer apologized for placing a surprise album in every iTunes user’s library, a move that prompted user frustration and raised worries about Big Tech overreach.
Bono partnered with Apple in 2014 to place his band’s album, Songs of Innocence, into every iTunes music library. While the effort was an experiment, critics at the time said it raised worrying implications about tech companies’ access to personal data. Bono said he convinced Apple CEO Tim Cook to pay U2 for the album and give it as a gift to users, but expressed regret.
“At first, I thought this was just an internet squall,” Bono wrote in an upcoming memoir, according to an excerpt published by the Guardian. “We were Santa Claus, and we’d knocked a few bricks out as we went down the chimney with our bag of songs. But quite quickly, we realized we’d bumped into a serious discussion about the access of big tech to our lives. The part of me that will always be punk rock thought this was exactly what the Clash would do. Subversive. But subversive is hard to claim when you’re working with a company that’s about to be the biggest on Earth.”
Bono’s memoir, Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story, is scheduled to release on Nov. 1.
‘DAYS WITH DISNEY ARE DONE’: TIM BURTON SAYS EXPERIENCE WAS ‘HORRIBLE BIG CIRCUS’
The deal arose after Bono convinced Cook to purchase the album directly from U2 and to gift it to every iTunes account. “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 wrote.
While many people criticized Apple for its overreach, Cook never appeared affected by it. “[Bono] talked us into an experiment,” Cook 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.”
A 2015 study found that only 1 in 4 users listened to one song from Songs of Innocence, according to Rolling Stone.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Bono also discussed meeting Apple founder Steve Jobs and discussing its advertising. While the band attempted to offer a free single in exchange for Apple stock, Jobs said that was a “dealbreaker.” Instead, the company offered U2 its own branded iPod.
Apple has been the focus of regulators after the Big Tech company froze its plans to use YMTC, a Chinese chip developer, for its iPhones after regulators in the United States implemented export controls over the company’s products.
