Apple’s $100m U2 Fail

<p>When U2’s new album, Songs Of Innocence, was rumoured to be bundled in with the iPhone 6 on 8th September, 2014, the band’s official spokespeople denied any involvement with Apple's product launch.</p><br><p>But the following day, U2 did indeed turn up at Tim Cook’s keynote - with an initiative to ‘gift’ the album, for free, to over half a billion iTunes users. Within days, the scheme backfired, and Apple had to create a bespoke website for users to remove it from their collections.</p><br><p>In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly consider why users felt so violated when being given free music; explore the backlash within the music industry to the deal; and enjoy Bono’s milk-based almost-apology…</p><p> </p><p><strong>Further Reading:</strong></p><ul><li>‘Analyzing Apple's U2 Mistake’ (Forbes, 2014): <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/bobbyowsinski/2014/09/18/analyzing-apples-u2-mistake/?sh=65492cde4939" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.forbes.com/sites/bobbyowsinski/2014/09/18/analyzing-apples-u2-mistake/?sh=65492cde4939</a></li><li>‘Apple's Devious U2 Album Giveaway Is Even Worse Than Spam’ (WIRED, 2014): <a href="https://www.wired.com/2014/09/apples-devious-u2-album-giveaway-even-worse-spam/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.wired.com/2014/09/apples-devious-u2-album-giveaway-even-worse-spam/</a></li><li>Tim Cook and Bono’s awkward stage bantz (Apple Keynote, 2014): <a href="https://youtu.be/38IqQpwPe7s?t=6610" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/38IqQpwPe7s?t=6610</a></li></ul><p><br></p><p><strong>For bonus material and to support the show, visit</strong><a href="https://create.acast.com/episodes/ca1f94a1-0921-446a-ae00-4d4bfd2ba3ef/Patreon.com/Retrospectors" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong> </strong></a><a href="http://patreon.com/Retrospectors" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Patreon.com/Retrospectors</strong></a></p><p><strong>We'll be back tomorrow! Follow us wherever you get your podcasts:</strong><a href="https://create.acast.com/episodes/ca1f94a1-0921-446a-ae00-4d4bfd2ba3ef/podfollow.com/Retrospectors" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong> </strong></a><a href="http://podfollow.com/Retrospectors" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>podfollow.com/Retrospectors</strong></a></p><br><p><em>The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.</em></p><p><em>Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Emma Corsham.</em></p><p><em>Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2021.</em></p><br><p><em>#2010s #Music #Technology #Mistakes #US</em></p><br /><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

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