By now, it’s clear that the surprise release of the new U2 album in conjunction with Apple is easily one of the biggest music-related stories of the year. It has now been just over a week since Bono took to the stage, and the shock is still wearing off for some. So, the question must be asked: was the Songs of Innocence stunt a success?
The answer is, of course, yes and no. As with any marketing ploy this big, there are huge ups and downs, and everybody has an opinion. The band did show the world that they can be on trend (by releasing an album with no warning), while also making sure to do things their way, never truly following in anyone’s footsteps. They also made everybody wait just long enough that anticipation was at an all time high, all without giving any real hints as to when new music would arrive, making it that much more exciting when it finally did come out.
Apple released a statement on Monday claiming 33 million iTunes users had accessed the album in the six days it had been available. The statement was attributed to Eddy Cue, Senior Vice President of Software and Services, who also explained that the figure was not just those who chose to download the full LP, but also those who streamed it or listened to it via iTunes radio. At the end of the day, that’s a good day’s work in itself.
On top of that, the band also had a pretty excellent payday with the deal (not that they really needed it). It’s being reported that the tech giant had to cough up over $100 million to have first dibs on the new record, a number that at this point seems impossible to recoup. It’s not really important to U2 though, as they’re walking away with pretty heavy pockets. We can expect the band to rise in the rankings of the highest paid musicians, where they once sat at number one.
While 33 million downloads/streams in less than a week is surely a win in terms of getting the music to the masses—something the band said was important to them during their original announcement at Apple’s press conference—it’s not all sunshine and roses for the rock stars.
As it turns out, not everybody was happy about finding the surprise new CD in their library. While millions have given Songs of Innocence a chance, many others couldn’t have deleted it quickly enough, if only because they didn’t know how. The demand to get rid of the collection was so strong, Apple actually had to release a special tool whose sole purpose is to help you remove your copy from your library. if Songs is the biggest CD giveaway of all time, it is also the most deleted record as well.
The album is also off to a cool start with critics, at least compared to what the band is used to. Songs has seen mixed reviews across the board, with Metacritic (a site that aggregates reviews and assigns a numbered score based on what critics have been saying) placing the new album below 2009’s No Line on the Horizon, which itself wasn’t loved anywhere near as much as past records. While Rolling Stone was exuberant about the rock band’s new collection, Under the Radar went so far as to call the album “a soulless and unwanted lump of shiny plastic”.
U2 still has an uphill battle to face with retailers next month when Songs of Innocence goes on sale and the free ride ends. It is yet to be seen just how well an album the entire world already has for free will perform on the charts.
For now, he band should be celebrating a win by now, as 33 million people paying attention to your album—love it, hate it, or rush to get rid of it—that’s no small feat.
