Apple misjudged its customers' appreciation for free merchandise when it placed U2's new album in their iTunes with no purchase necessary. The company had to provide a tool to delete the album "Songs of Innocence" from unhappy subscribers' accounts, and U2 has also issued an apology for the mass distribution.
"Oops, I'm sorry about that," lead singer Bono said during a Facebook Q&A session on Oct. 14.
Apple uploaded the U2 album directly into the library of 500 million iTunes accounts as part of a cross-promotion for the iPhone 6 release last month. The band also gave a surprise performance at a press event where Apple CEO Tim Cook unveiled the phone on Sept. 9.
"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, and deep fear that these songs that we poured our life into over the last few years mightn't be heard."
U2 worked on "Innocence" for two years and collaborated with producer Danger Mouse (a.k.a. Brian Burton), their frequent collaborator Flood and Adele producers Paul Epworth and Ryan Tedder. Band members drew on early music inspirations and their lives growing up.
"Some of the music out there now that people call pop, it's not pop - it's just truly great. And we wanted to have the discipline of the Beatles or the Stones in the '60s, when you had real songs. There's nowhere to hide in them: clear thoughts, clear melodies," Bono told Rolling Stone in September.
"Songs of Innocence" is U2's thirteenth studio album. The band will promote the album in arena tour next year.
