U2 caused quite a stir when they surprised iTunes fans by dropping their latest album “Songs of Innocence” on them for free back on Sept. 9. Frontman Bono apologized on Tuesday via Facebook after soliciting questions from fans as part of a promotion for the album’s physical release.
Many people, who found the album added to their iCloud playlists automatically, lashed out against Apple and the iconic rock group. The outrage was so pronounced that Apple had to develop a tool to help them remove the album from their playlists.
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The band uploaded a video in which they answered questions from fans solicited via #U2NoFilter, with one asking them pointedly, “Can you please never release an album on iTunes that automatically downloads to people’s playlists ever again? It’s really rude.”
“Oops,” Bono said with a small smile.
But he went on with sincerity. “”I’m sorry about that. I had this beautiful idea; we might have gotten carried away with ourselves. Artists are prone to that kind of thing. 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.”
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If he was worried about the songs being heard, the move definitely paid off. Apple estimates 81 million people “experienced” the album through steams on iTunes, iTunes Radio and Beats Music. Additional 26 million iTunes users took advantage of the free album and downloaded it in its entirety.
It wasn’t all serious, though, as the band answered more fun questions like why Larry Mullen and Adam Clayton don’t have cool names like Bono and The Edge, and what concert they’d love to go back to and see again.
“Songs of Innocence” was released on CD and vinyl Monday, Oct. 13. It is no longer available digitally for free.
Check out the video below.