Former Guns N’ Roses lead guitarist Slash has praised U2’s poorly received iTunes album giveaway as a clever marketing strategy.
“There’s a lot less opportunities in the record business to get a deal and get a record out there, and there’s not a lot of radio play for it,” he told Ultimate Classic Rock magazine.
Describing the music business in 2014 as “like the wild, wild west,” he continued that this was “one of those kind of tactics that only U2 could really get away with doing.”
He did, however, note that it’s a move that favors established musical acts over young up-and-comers, who companies like Apple would be less likely to pay an upfront fee to distribute for free via iTunes.
“I’m sure it was a very viable move for [U2] and if you have that luxury of making sure it’s on everybody’s iTunes, that’s great,” Slash said. “But I don’t think that particular model is available for everybody.”
The comments follow Apple’s backfiring publicity stunt of giving away U2’s latest album for free, having paid U2 and its record label a reported $100 million to do so.
In the aftermath, Apple was forced to roll out a tool to remove the album from iTunes accounts, while the move was skewered by comedian Conan O’Brien, who suggested Apple go further and create a tool that can remove U2’s tunes from your mind forever.
However, while Slash makes a valid point about how Apple’s U2 distribution is a move that favors established acts over newcomers (at least in its current incarnation), U2 singer Bono recently noted that the band is working with Apple on a new digital music format they hope will reignite album sales — thereby helping newer artists unable to rake in the kind of money U2 does from live performances.
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
2 responses to “Slash defends U2’s unique deal with Apple”
In the ‘aftermath’.. oh please… get over it.
Less than .5% people bitched about getting a ‘free’ album, but it’s been sensationlized into some event only bloggers can benifit from.. yay clicks.. cry me a river. I only liked a few of the songs, and didn’t download the rest.. yup.. magic.. only keep in on your stuff if you want it.. it’s an amazing concept..
Some people obsess over the light in the fridge lights too, is it really there if it’s in my purchases list, or not? A phylisophical question of the year! durrrrrr…
I’m one of the people who wasn’t complaining about it. I’m a U2 fan, and I’ll agree with you that complaining about a free album is a bit like the current fuss over Bendgate. With that said, surely you’ll agree that Apple can’t have been happy with the publicity it got? I’m sure people in Cupertino thought they’d be praised for pioneering a new way of distributing music in such a way that both users and band would be happy. Instead they caught a ton of negative publicity.