Bono has looked back on U2’s ‘Songs Of Innocence’ infamously being automatically downloaded onto millions of people’s iTunes accounts without warning, admitting that the stunt “went too far”.
The Irish rock giants dropped their 13th album for free back in 2014 as part of a deal with Apple. It meant that iTunes users worldwide woke up to find the full album automatically downloaded on their libraries, whether they wanted it there or not.
Following backlash, Apple were forced to create a tool that allowed customers to remove the album from their devices, and Bono later shared his regrets about the unconventional method of rolling out the record, calling it a “gross invasion” and likening it to “putting a bottle of milk in people’s fridge that they weren’t asking for”.
The frontman also spoke about the controversy in his 2022 memoir Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story, saying that while did it in a bid to make people realise how little the majority of “musicians get paid”, it was an “overreach” on his behalf.
Now, the iconic singer has looked back at the uproar 12 years on, and shared that he “went too far on that one”.
Speaking to The New York Times, Bono explained that both the band’s manager Paul McGuinness and Apple CEO Tim Cook were wary of the unique free rollout strategy, and even asked him why he would “want to give something away for free” after spending his “whole life” trying to get people to care enough to pay.
“We were experimenting,” Bono told the outlet, before taking sole responsibility for the move. “We wanted to see if we could get Apple or another company to pay for our music and then they distribute it.”
Recommended
Guitarist The Edge, however, was less inclined to criticise the decision, saying that learning from past mistakes is part of the process. “We take risks. We have to,” he said. “So you fail, you fall on your face at times? That’s part of the gig.”
His outlook is similar to that shared by producer Flood back in 2015 when he was asked if it was a mistake to automatically download onto the accounts of over 500million iTunes customers.
“I think what it did was raise whether music is valued in society right now, and I think that’s something that still hasn’t been answered correctly,” he told Gigwise. “It brought about the question of ‘What are peoples’ listening tastes?’ And maybe the biggest question it raised was ‘Are people allowed to have choice or is choice actually being eliminated?’”
New album Carnaval de Luz available 13th November. “Silencio” out now. https://t.co/Fa2Hea7OrT pic.twitter.com/1U42yll9gD
— U2 (@U2) September 24, 2026
Bono doubled down on his comments comparing the album to an unwanted “bottle of milk” in 2022, telling The Guardian that he wanted it to be like a “gift to people” that was left on their doorstep, and could choose to accept or not.
“What was the worst that could happen? It would be like junk mail, wouldn’t it? Like taking our bottle of milk and leaving it on the doorstep of every house in the neighbourhood,” he said. “Not. Quite. True… we didn’t just put our bottle of milk at the door but in every fridge in every house in town.
“In some cases we poured it on to the good people’s cornflakes. And some people like to pour their own milk. And others are lactose intolerant.”
U2 are dropping their 16th studio album, ‘Carnaval De Luz’ on November 13 – their first full-length collection of new material since 2017’s ‘Songs Of Experience’.
Ahead of the release, the band have shared the singles ‘Silencio’ and ‘The Greatest Show On Earth’, and announced the first dates of their 2027 world tour, with shows confirmed in Mexico, Brazil and Argentina, but not Chile.
That tour will mark their first full-scale live performances since their Las Vegas Sphere residency ended in 2024, and will see drummer Larry Mullen Jr. return following surgery. Next week, Bono and co. are also set to play a surprise intimate gig in London in partnership with the BBC.