500 Million iTunes Users Get Free U2 Album

By Stephen Pate – After watching the slick, professional and convincing Apple Event releasing the Apple iPhone 6, 6 Plus and Apple Watch announcement, Apple CEO Tim Cook surprised everyone by giving his customers a free copy of the new U2 CD “Songs of Innocence”.

If all 500 million iTunes customers download the free album, it will make U2’s new album the biggest release in the history of music.

It also demonstrates Apple’s commitment to music. As CEO Tim Cook said “Music is at the core of Apple values.”

Apple may be manipulative but they sure know how to put on a great show and prove their commitment to their customers.

Songs Of Innocence

Got iTunes ? Take a listen. 

Simply go to the Music app on your iOS device, or to your iTunes music library on your Mac or PC, and find ‘Songs of Innocence’ under the artist or album tab. The new album is in iCloud, just tap the track listing to start listening or tap the cloud icon to download. 

Songs of Innocence is set for worldwide release on October 13th. Today Apple are giving it to half a billion iTunes Store customers. 

Not got an iTunes account? Create one here – the album will automatically appear in your library. 

U2.com slipped into the studio a few days back where the band played us the new tracks and we were blown away. A kind of musical autobiography, the eleven new songs chart their earliest influences from 70s rock and punk to early 80s electronica and soul… and reveal how music changed everything. As Bono sings in the lead song, ‘The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone)’ ‘I woke up when the miracle occurred/ Heard a song that made some sense out of the world…’ 

Exploring themes of home and family, relationships and discovery, detailed liner notes fill out the picture with resonant stories, like one of the first gigs the teenage band got into. 

‘The 4 members of U2 went to see the Ramones playing in the state cinema in Dublin without thinking about how we were going to get in. we had no tickets and no money.. My best friend Guggi had a ticket and he snuck us through a side exit he pried open. The world stopped long enough for us to get on it. Even though we only saw half the show, it became one of the great nights of our life….’ 

Songs of Innocence was recorded in Dublin, London, New York and Los Angeles and is produced by Danger Mouse, along with Paul Epworth, Ryan Tedder, Declan Gaffney and Flood. 

Here’s the eleven tracks: The Miracle (of Joey Ramone), Every Breaking Wave, California (There Is No End To Love), Song For Someone, Iris (Hold Me Close), Volcano, Raised By Wolves, Cedarwood Road, Sleep Like A Baby Tonight, This Is Where You Can Reach Me Now, The Troubles. 

On October 13th the physical release of Songs of Innocence comes with a 24-page booklet. A deluxe, gatefold double album, contains an acoustic session of songs from the album and four additional tracks: Lucifer’s Hands, The Crystal Ballroom, The Troubles (Alternative version) and Sleep Like a Baby Tonight (Alternative Perspective Mix by Tchad Blake) 

The album will also be available as a gatefold, double white-vinyl LP with an exclusive remix of “The Crystal Ballroom”. 

By Stephen Pate, NJN Network