Bono takes the blame for the 2014 iTunes U2 album disaster - AppleInsider

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U2 frontman Bono takes the blasted for the ill-fated iTunes medium giveaway of 2014, an extract from his memoir reveals, but portion Apple took vigor for the endeavor, CEO Tim Cook seemingly wasn't fazed by the effect astatine all.

Apple's acquisition of a escaped copy of the U2 medium "Songs of Innocence" was seen arsenic a monolithic blunder for the music-selling service, with complaints from galore forcing Apple to travel up with instructions to region the medium from idiosyncratic libraries.

In extracts from Bono's memoir "Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story" published in The Guardian, the stone frontman recounts meetings betwixt the set and Apple executives successful 2014. In the meeting, Bono spoke with manager Guy Oseary, Eddy Cue, Phil Schiller, and Tim Cook, with the proposition of a giveaway being from Bono's broadside of the table.

"You privation to springiness this euphony distant free? But the full constituent of what we're trying to bash astatine Apple is to not springiness distant euphony free. The constituent is to marque definite musicians get paid," Bono was told.

Bono alternatively insisted that Apple should wage U2, but past springiness it distant arsenic a gift. "Wouldn't that beryllium wonderful?," helium added. When Cook pressed, Bono compared it to however "Netflix buys the movie and gives it distant to subscribers."

"But we're not a subscription organization," Cook fired back, earlier Bono offered "Not yet. Let ours beryllium the first."

Cook was seemingly inactive skeptical astir the deal, and asked further if this was conscionable to those who liked U2. "I deliberation we should springiness it distant to everybody," Bono proposed, "I mean, it's their prime whether they privation to perceive to it."

On the reception the medium had, Bono states helium takes afloat responsibility. "Not Guy O, not Edge, not Adam, not Larry, not Tim Cook, not Eddy Cue." Bono believed that if the euphony was made disposable for listening, radical "might take to scope retired toward it."

Bono has previously apologized for the incident, which saw automatic downloads of the medium to millions of users, successful the weeks aft it occurred.

"At archetypal I thought this was conscionable an net squall. We were Santa Claus and we'd knocked a fewer bricks retired arsenic we went down the chimney with our container of songs," helium offers. "But rather rapidly we realized we'd bumped into a superior treatment astir the entree of large tech to our lives."

Bono takes a infinitesimal to commend Cook connected his actions afterward. "You talked america into an experiment," the CEO said to the rockstar. "We ran with it. It whitethorn not person worked, but we person to experiment, due to the fact that the euphony concern successful its contiguous signifier is not moving for everyone."

Bono past points retired the "probably instinctively conservative" enactment benignant of Cook, and that portion helium wanted to effort and lick a problem, helium was inactive acceptable to instrumentality responsibility.

The extract besides discusses different Apple CEO enactment 10 years prior, with Bono and Edge visiting Steve Jobs with Jimmy Iovine successful tow. While U2 didn't bash commercials, it was projected that the set was a bully acceptable for Apple's advertisement benignant astatine the time.

For renumeration, Jobs didn't deliberation Apple had the fund specified a set would expect. Bono countered by saying they conscionable wanted to beryllium successful the commercial, nevertheless portion the set wasn't looking for cash, they suggested a "symbolic amount" of Apple stock, though Jobs called it a "dealbreaker."

As an alternative, a customized U2 iPod successful black and red was suggested, though Jobs insisted "You wouldn't privation a achromatic one. I tin amusement you what it would look like, but you volition not similar it."

Later, aft the set were shown the archetypal mentation and recovered it favorable, plan main Jony Ive was invited to look astatine the device's plan a 2nd time. Eventually, the peculiar variation iPod successful reddish and achromatic saw nationalist release.