It turns out Apple’s latest partnership with U2 will go beyond just the release of the band’s new album ‘Songs of Innocence’ for free to iTunes customers. In an interview with Billboard, the band’s manager Guy Oseary noted U2 will continue to work with Apple on music related projects:
We’re working on other things as well with Apple that have to do with how music is heard and innovation, with [iTunes VP of content] Robert Kondrk leading that charge. There’s a lot of things still to come that are really interesting. The band really wants people to engage with albums, they want them to support the art form of artwork and lyrics and video content and just get into their music in a much different way than an MP3 file. This is a long relationship.
He also noted that Beats founder and new Apple employee Jimmy Iovine played a role in the partnership: We look to Jimmy for guidance and support no matter what we end up doing, whether its this project or talking about the next single, or whether we’re talking about doing other things down the road. Talk about family, trips, things that we wanted to to do in our personal lives — we’re really connected, we’re really supportive. Jimmy is near and dear to this band, he’s definitely a source of support and guidance… We consider him family and there’s been a lot of hand-holding together through this process.
As part of the deal to give away the band’s new record to iTunes customers, reports today claimed Apple paid the band and Universal an unspecified royalty fee in addition to a marketing campaign worth as much as $100 million.
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Fantastic. Just don’t force it into any devices/accounts that I’m paying for
How can we appreciate U2 if they won’t go away?
Didn’t take you long to get your spoke in!
bozo! why don’t you go away? not that that would make us appreciate you or anything…
The album is starting to grow on me rapidly, It actually is pretty great.
Wow, what a team Apple is assembling: Levine, Dre, U2. Whoever and whatever next?
I smell the beginnings of a full-blown Apple label, publishing and artist development division, and given the team lineup, it would absolutely rock!
Q: Why don’t Apple team with an exciting, new act, rather than a dying set of has-beens?
Possible, conspiracy-theorist-based A: “Illuminati” connections?
look at the picture with 1 finger from each…and tell me that ain’t illuminati
Yeh, I saw a Monarch butterfly in there too, and the Mega Evil Corporation… WTF?!?!
yeah..crazy shit
“Songs of Innocence” – the most deleted album in history.
That should qualify it for an entry in the Guinness Book of Records.
if you downloaded it just to delete, yes
Please go away U2 34 years is enough.