According to multiple reports, the highly publicized deal with rock band U2 set Apple back $100 million, all to put U2’s new album, Songs of Innocence, on your iTunes and iPhone for free. Yes, you read that right, a company is paying a nine-figure dollar amount to promote a band.
In case you missed the big news, Apple, in conjunction with their recent announcements of the iPhone 6 and the Apple Watch, bought the rights to distribute U2’s first studio album in five years. If you haven’t checked your Apple-based product, you may want to… there’s a good chance the music was uploaded onto your iPhone or iTunes without your knowledge.
The album will officially be released on October 13th, with extra tracks and acoustic versions of several songs. These tracks will be exclusive to the album release, as Apple won’t be able to get their hands on the full album version until five weeks after the major release. This move was made to appease other retailers, though some are understandably frustrated that the majority of U2’s new album was distributed for free via Apple.
For those who may question Bono’s motives, fear not – apparently the deal included a contribution upwards of ten million dollars to the AIDS charity, RED. Plus, a whopping 7% of the world’s population just got their hands on Songs of Innocence, whether they liked it or not.
Was this a good investment? Apple may have the rights to U2’s music, but is that really worth $100 million in advertising? Only time will tell.
-David Melamed (@DMelamz)
[Via SPIN]