Twelve years after U2's 2014 album appeared unasked in millions of iTunes libraries, Bono tells The New York Times the stunt overreached, as the band prepares its 16th album for 13 November.
Bono has said that U2's decision to place 'Songs of Innocence' automatically on millions of iTunes accounts in 2014 "went too far", according to NME, which reported on an interview he gave to The New York Times twelve years after the episode. The band's 13th album was released free as part of a deal with Apple, so users worldwide woke up to find it already in their libraries, whether they wanted it or not. After the backlash, Apple had to create a tool that let customers remove the album from their devices.
Speaking to the newspaper, Bono said both the band's manager Paul McGuinness and Apple chief executive Tim Cook were wary of the free rollout and asked why he would give something away after spending his whole life trying to persuade people to pay for music. "We were experimenting," he said, taking sole responsibility for the move and explaining that the aim was to see whether Apple or another company would pay for the music and then distribute it. Guitarist The Edge was less critical: "We take risks. We have to," he said, adding that failing at times is "part of the gig". Bono had already called the move an "overreach" in his 2022 memoir 'Surrender', saying he wanted to draw attention to how little most musicians are paid.
The remarks come ahead of U2's 16th studio album, 'Carnaval de Luz', due on 13 November, their first full-length collection of new material since 2017's 'Songs of Experience'. NME says the band has released the singles 'Silencio' and 'The Greatest Show on Earth' and announced the first dates of a 2027 world tour, with shows confirmed in Mexico, Brazil and Argentina. According to the same report, drummer Larry Mullen Jr. is set to return following surgery, and the band will play a surprise intimate London gig in partnership with the BBC next week.
