Bono sorry for compulsory iCloud album

boing
21

So let’s take your scenario.

"Now listen here, Apple. I’m Bono. I’m King of the World. I’m Mister Fookin Africa Relief. You know all those RED products you got? That’s me. You know that iPod with all our songs? That’s me. You might say that when people think of Apple, they think of me.

"OK, probably Steve Jobs first. But then ME, singing Vertigo. Hello Hello OLE

"So here’s the deal. My band has a new album. Yes, ALBUM. We still call them albums, you geeky turtlenecked nerd. Now, we want you to take this album, program all yer ones and zeros, and have it show up on EVERY iPhone EVERYWHERE. EVERY ONE.

"I don’t care how hard it is. Steve Jobs would have done in five seconds. And if you don’t do it, I’ll take it over to Bill Gates. He’d love it for his phone. He’d do it in a SECOND. And don’t think I won’t, either. Me and Bill are TIGHT. He’s BIG on Africa relief. Don’t get him started on vaccines, mate.

“Oh, and I want a HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS, too. You heard me, Burberry lady.”

…yeah, I think my scenario is more plausible. But you could be right.

Actually, you might really be right. U2 might have said put it everywhere. But Apple owns the user experience, and should have had the knowledge to say, “Um…maybe you don’t want to do that. Be cool, U2. Offer the album for free in iTunes. But don’t force it don’t their throat, like it’s the third single in heavy rotation from a Matchbox 20 album. Just let them come to it. We’ll put out something cool with you singing, and people will flock to it. Maybe we’ll have an app where you can insert Bono’s head into their photos? That might work better. No? Every iPhone? Oooookay, you’re the Irish boss.”

I might have had a stressful day today. Sorry.

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22

Nooooo. Lack of music is not a problem right now - there’s far more good music than there are minutes in the day. Wading through the chaff is the issue. And then dull old-people music showing up in your streaming playlist and being unable to remove it is a problem (admittedly a very small firstworldproblem).

It would have been nice if they’d given it free to anyone who actually wanted it, yes.

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23

Were you cackling megalomaniacally as you typed it?

24

It would take a bit of digging (given all the noise that now comes up in search results on this topic) but I distinctly remember a piece around the time of the Apple event saying that U2’s management came up with the basic idea.

Whether the article went into detail about whose idea it was to make it an opt-out promo, I don’t remember. But I’m reasonably certain the basic idea of a free digital pre-release to hundreds of millions of people came from U2’s side.

Now, if it was U2’s idea to use this spammy approach, then certainly someone at Apple should have talked some sense into them. So, if we’re looking for ways to blame Apple, there’s another potential one.

Edit: at a minimum, surely U2’s management and/or record label would have had to have signed off on the specific form of the giveaway.

25

Could you hear it all the way in $Your_Location ?

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u2 is, allegedly, post-punk-- not sure what that means, but there you have it

27

The way I see it is even if I only listen to it once, it didn’t cost me anything. Now if they had sent me a message and said ‘You have this album for free!’, I never would have got the album. Since I now have it, I’ll give it a listen and then it will just sit in my playlist and I won’t really stress about it since it was given to me (yeah firstworldproblem)

28

It’s a musical genre usually associated with names like the Cure, PIL, Wire, Echo and the Bunnymen, Joy Division, etc. I never really put U2 in that particular pigeonhole, but I guess it kind of fits.

29

You can click on the blue links on wikipedia? it’s a hypertext universe? Wow…
To think I have merely scratched the surface? How could I be so obtuse?

You must excuse me. I think… I think I need to be alone now.

:cry:

30

Was this actually Pushed to iPhones? If so, that’s not cool — I’d have ended up paying the mobile company for the data use as I live out of cell range and I’m not the only one … But this article on BB was the first I heard of this. The album is available to download on this MacBook iTunes but it requires my OK to do so —and it’s definitely not on my phone.

So, Apple and sundry musicians, knock yourselves out — please put other free music on iCloud and let me download it. Just don’t force me to download it. Storm in a teacup from where I sit.

31

It was pushed to people who had Automatic Downloads enabled for new iTunes Store purchases. So, a good many people but not everyone.

32

Ah, thanks for clarifying. I’d turned that off to avoid paying unwanted download costs on the mobile plan, so wasn’t stung. Good thing I RTFM, eh? :wink:

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33

I don’t much care whose idea it was; unless U2 owns a controlling share in Apple, the responsibility lies with the company.

34

TL;DR Bono

bono-share-WcS.png1102×624 254 KB

35

I don’t follow your logic. It’s a business deal, which means there are at least two willing parties involved, and probably more like three or four.

Any of them could have pulled the plug, insisted on changes, etc. Thus they all share the blame in my opinion.

And then we have Bono essentially taking all the responsibility. Maybe he’s just being magnanimous, but I suspect it really means the band had real input into the deal, beyond simply signing on the dotted line and cashing a whopping big cheque.

36

Apple’s entire model is “you’ll take whatever we give you, and like it”…

37

Edited for clarity :smiley:

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