Bono Retracts Apology Over 'Songs Of Innocence' Giveaway

Three weeks ago Bono apologised for the free iTunes giveaway of U2’s album. But now, he’s rescinded on that apology – backtracked on the backtrack, if you will – saying that the rollout of Songs of Innocence is “one of the proudest things for us ever”.

In an interview with Billboard, he explained the reason behind the decision: "We always wanted our music to be heard, and the idea that we could have worked for years and years [on] what we think are the most personal songs that we have ever written - and you have to become very raw to write like that - only then for them maybe not to be heard was terrifying.”

“So we were just thrilled that we got a chance to introduce ourselves to people who weren't fans of listening to rock music, or people that listen to Bhangra in India, or whatever, all around the world.

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Back in September, U2 and tech giants Apple unveiled a joint collaboration, simultaneously launching the iPhone 6 and the Irish band’s thirteenth studio album in a free rollout in support of that. However, the album automatically downloaded to iTunes account holders’ playlists, which precipitated a lot of negative feedback on social media.

In a Facebook Q&A session a few weeks after the release, Bono had appeared contrite, saying "Oops. I'm sorry about that. I had this beautiful idea and we got carried away with ourselves. Artists are prone to that kind of thing. Drop of megalomania, touch of generosity, dash of self-promotion.”

Just 5% of iTunes account holders downloaded the album that had been placed on listeners’ devices, which doesn’t sound too impressive until you realise that’s 5% of 500 million customers. In mid-October, U2 eventually released Songs of Innocence in a traditional physical format, and it still charted at number 6 in the UK and number 9 in the States.

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