The singer Bono evokes in his autobiography that will be published at the beginning of November the controversy caused by the U2 album songs of innocence. In 2014, the Irish group had been heavily criticized for this album, which, after an agreement with Apple, was automatically downloaded to the devices of 500 million iTunes users.
In his memoirs, Bono takes full responsibility for this marketing strategy: “Neither Guy O [l’agent de U2, NDLR]not Edge, not Adam, not Larry [les autres membres de U2, NDLR]nor Tim Cook [le PDG d’Apple, NDLR]not Eddy Cue [senior vice-président des services chez Apple, NDLR]And he adds: “My detractors have accused me of being too ambitious and they would be right to think so.”
The singer says that he himself contacted the CEO of Apple, Tim Cook, with the idea of offering his album to users of the brand. The businessman was initially skeptical before being seduced by the singer.
“We have preserved the song”
“What could have gone wrong?” Bono asks in his autobiography. “We thought it would be like spam, like dropping a milk bottle on the doormat of every house in a neighborhood. But that’s not exactly what happened.”
“On September 9, 2014, we not only put a bottle of milk on the doormat, we put it in the refrigerator in every house. In some cases, we drown people’s cereal in our milk. And some people prefer to take care of milk and cereals. And some have lactose intolerance.”
“At first I thought it was just a bad internet rumour,” Bono continues. “But we quickly realized that it was an important topic, about how technology interferes with our lives.” He concludes: “We learned our lesson. We have to be more careful.”
Source: BFM TV
