Bono, U2, Apple iTunes, Wrong Note

For Bono and U2, Apple iTunes Partnership Finally Hits a Wrong Note - NYTimes.com: "... Bono, the band’s leader, explained as much to the packed audience at the Web Summit here, saying that 100 million people had listened to a song or two and that 30 million people had listened to the whole album. It was not without costs, even though it was given away. The album was pushed onto the playlists of some 500 million iTunes users, and Apple and U2 ended up in stockades on the web for what many consumers saw as an unwanted intrusion into their most personal territory — their music collection. As a mushroom cloud of discontent erupted, Bono engaged in what sounded like contrition in a video posted on the band’s Facebook page as part of a Q. and A. with fans. One of them asked why U2 thought they could embed themselves in people’s phones without so much as a how-do-you-do.... In truth, U2 is on a dead run to remain relevant and avoid turning into a nostalgia act that makes buckets of money on tour but produces records people no longer care about — the Rolling Stones come to mind. Bono will tell anyone who will listen that the new album, which is written as a kind of origin story for U2, reflects the band at its best and most personal. He did not want a project that took five years to finish to then be missed by indifferent, busy ears. Thus the iTunes gambit..." (read more at link above)

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