Bono has apologized for a recent self-promotion stint, albeit in a video promoting his new album release on CD and vinyl.
The U2 frontman apologized to everyone who was annoyed after the band’s new album “Songs of Innocence” just showed up in their iTunes accounts last month. All 500 million iTunes users received the free download.
In a Facebook video posted Oct. 14, Bono said he got carried away with the “beautiful idea” of the auto-download, but artists are “prone to a drop of megalomania” and he feared the album wouldn’t be heard.
The download was announced Sept. 9 at the Apple event unveiling the iPhone 6, 6 Plus and Apple Watch. Apple automatically sent the album for free to active iTunes accounts, and for some people with certain settings, that meant an automatic download too.
Billboard reported last week the album had been downloaded 26 million times, and 81 million people had listened to at least one song — it’s not clear how many actually meant to.
Stories You Might Like
There’s a lot happening in the world. Through it all, Marketplace is here for you.
You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible.
Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.
