U2 to give their new LP to every iTunes customer for free in largest album release ever

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Comments

  • Reply 21 of 31
    It was there in my library within a couple of minutes. Downloading it took no additional time than normal.

    I am not the biggest U2 fan, but this album is surprisingly beautiful. I would even have been happy to pay for it!
  • Reply 22 of 31
    lkrupp wrote: »
    You have no idea how big iTunes really is, do you. It literally dwarfs any other music store on the planet, Amazon and Google included. They don’t even come close.

    Anyway, it takes 1,000,000 sales of an album to be classified Platinum. It takes 10,000,000 sales of an album to be classified Diamond. U2 just released an album to over 500,000,000 iTunes subscribers. It’s already in those 500,000,000 libraries. And Apple PAID U2 for that album. THAT’s why it is the “Largest Album Release Ever.” Any more questions?

    I should have been more specific... What is the significance of "largest [free] album release ever"?
  • Reply 23 of 31
    Wow. 110MB of crap I'm not interested in. Good thing it wasn't pushed to my lib, just available on iCloud as a free download. I did a Select and Hide Items on it.
    gtr wrote: »
    It's official: Apple products give their customers a bono.

    Hilarious! You always have a pointer for us, tnx.
    chadmatic wrote: »
    I should have been more specific... What is the significance of "largest [free] album release ever"?

    Same as Apple, Inc. being the most valuable company in the world. Surreal, but means 'nothing'.
  • Reply 24 of 31
    Originally Posted by chadmatic View Post

    What is the significance of "largest [free] album release ever"?

     

    What’s the significance of a band being able to distribute their music to half a billion people? Gee, I wonder¡

  • Reply 25 of 31
    crowleycrowley Posts: 10,453member
    Plenty of other artists have put free albums on "the internet" before, which has a larger user base than iTunes. Just because U2 have a prominent link on iTunes instead of a website doesn't make it particularly notable, just the usual showboating. They won't get 500 million downloads.
  • Reply 26 of 31
    Originally Posted by Crowley View Post

    They won't get 500 million downloads.



    It was added to the purchases of every user. We own* it even if we don’t want it. 

     

    *insert 40 pages of conditionals on what ‘own’ means to digital media with DRM here

  • Reply 27 of 31

    I think this is quite proper to say about this gift:

     

    Thanks, Apple!

     

    :-)

  • Reply 28 of 31
    It was added to the purchases of every user. We own* it even if we don’t want it. 

    Well it doesn't show up in my purchase history. Of course that;s because I didn't download it as I don't like their music.
  • Reply 29 of 31
    crowleycrowley Posts: 10,453member

    It was added to the purchases of every user. We own* it even if we don’t want it. 

    [SIZE=10px]*insert 40 pages of conditionals on what ‘own’ means to digital media with DRM here[/SIZE]
    I'm pretty sure a contract of sale involves two parties, so neither Apple nor U2 can say I own it unless I want to own it and agree to own it. It's free to own. Lots of things are, if you choose to own them.

    This isn't record breaking or interesting, it's just a stunt from U2 that uses some mechanics that haven't been used in this way before, but still aren't all that interesting. The only thing interesting, or rather entertaining, will be how many people don't even take the free offering because U2 are such an annoying and irrelevant band.
  • Reply 30 of 31
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post



    Adding to the tsunami of major announcements coming out of Cupertino on Friday, Apple and Irish rockers U2 teamed up to give away a free copy the band's new album to each one of the more than 500 million iTunes customers in 119 countries around the world.

     





    Apple CEO Tim Cook made the announcement standing alongside U2 frontman Bono at the end of the company's event earlier Tuesday. Following a performance of their new single, Bono asked Cook if he could help release the album.



    "Well, we have iTunes," Cook replied.



    The two then joined together on a five-second countdown, with Cook declaring at the end that that "actually happened." The album will become available in users' libraries throughout the day, and will remain exclusive to iTunes --?for free -- until Oct. 13.

     





    In addition, the album will stream over iTunes Radio and through Beats Music. Cook said that the event represents the largest album release in the history of the music industry.



    Word of U2's involvement leaked last week, but the band flatly denied those reports, likely at Apple's behest. "They are not releasing their album on the iPhone, and they are not performing at the iPhone launch," the band's representative said at the time.

    "Songs of Innocence" is U2s Best LP Ever - Amazing!

  • Reply 31 of 31
    k2kwk2kw Posts: 2,075member
    I think this is quite proper to say about this gift:

    Thanks, Apple!

    :-)
    This really isn't a gift because one way or another apple customers will pay for it.

    This reflects Tim Cook's music preferences. Maybe the should have cut a deal for a new album by JayZ or Taylor Swift.

    I prefer classical midi myself but recognizes that many have other tastes in music.
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