‘I take full responsibility’: Bono FINALLY apologizes after free U2 album ‘Songs of Innocence’ automatically downloaded on more than 500 million iTunes accounts in 2014
- U2’s album, ‘Songs of Innocence’ was released to all of Apple’s users’ iTunes accounts in 2014 for free, but was met with much criticism from users
- Many users were annoyed because they simply did not like U2
- The album also seemed to have magically appeared in iTunes accounts
- Apple released a quick fix six days after the launch, which only needed users to sign into their AppleID to remove all 11 songs
- Bono apologized this weekend, saying it was entirely his fault
Bono has offered a public apology for the U2 album, ‘Songs Of Innocence,’ automatically downloading to more than 500 million users’ iTunes accounts in 2014, saying he ‘takes full responsibility’ for the outrage it caused.
Not knowing where the album came from was only part of the issue, but the larger problem was the songs were nearly impossible to delete from accounts.
Writing in The Guardian, Bono explained he pitched the free album as Apple giving its users a gift, which was not a homerun with CEO Tim Cook.
‘But we’re not a subscription organization,’ Cook responded to Bono, who said ‘not yet’ then told the CEO that it will be everyone’s choice if they want to listen to the album.’
Bono released a formal apology regarding the outrage over U2’s album automatically downloading to iTunes accounts in 2014. He said CEO Tim Cook was not on board with the idea from the start but figured to use the launch as an experiment to see how users would react
Bono approached Apple prior to the release, speaking with Cook who he said was confused by the idea.
‘Are you talking about free music?’ Cook said, according to Bono. ‘But the whole point… is to make sure musicians get paid.’
”No,’ I said, ‘I don’t think we give it away for 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.
It is said that Apple paid U2 $100 million for the album that hit iTunes accounts on September 9, 2014, around the same time when Apple launched its iPhone 6.
The announcement was shared by Apple in a press release, but it seemed many users did not get the message and were perplexed when the list of songs magically appeared in their iTunes account.
It is said that Apple paid U2 $100 million for the album that hit iTunes accounts on September 9, 2014, around the same time when Apple launched its iPhone 6.
The majority of users complained the album was added without their permission, while others simply did not like U2
The majority of users complained the album was added without their permission, while others simply did not like U2.
The album was distributed to iTunes users via iCloud, which means it appears in the Music app on devices, but isn’t physically stored on the computer, phone or tablet until it has been downloaded.
Following the nearly instant angry tweets, comments and complaints, Apple launched a dedicated page that helped users remove Songs of Innocence – just six days after the album was released.
Before the tool was launched, users had to swipe left on each song and click Delete to remove the unwanted music.
Another option was just hide the album from iTunes.
‘I take full responsibility. Not Guy O, not Edge, not Adam, not Larry, not Tim Cook, not Eddy Cue,’ Bono told The Guardian.
‘I’d thought if we could just put our music within reach of people, they might choose to reach out toward it. Not quite.’
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