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# Bono Apologizes For That Whole ‘Free U2 Album’ Thing

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<!-- video src="https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/C4WrxtKs.m3u8" -->
## Video: Bono Apologizes For That Whole ‘Free U2 Album’ Thing

[Watch (HLS stream): Bono Apologizes For That Whole ‘Free U2 Album’ Thing](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/C4WrxtKs.m3u8) (1:12)

![Bono Apologizes For That Whole ‘Free U2 Album’ Thing](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/C4WrxtKs/poster.jpg?width=720)

_Published 2014-10-15. During a special Facebook Q&A session, U2 lead singer Bono apologized for teaming up with Apple to automatically put his “Songs of Innocence” album onto millions of Apple devices._


---

Jul 27, 2023 5:22 PM UTC

---

## More From This Series

[All Videos](https://time.com/video/)

[Whole Foods Co-CEOs Apologize for Overcharges](/video/g1lmF1RS/)

### Whole Foods Co-CEOs Apologize for Overcharges

[Why U2 Released a Free Album on iTunes](/video/RahMaeom/)

### Why U2 Released a Free Album on iTunes

[Q&A with Bono](/video/Dcw05K5K/)

### Q&A with Bono

---


## Transcript

You might remember Bono gate in September when denizens of the Internet freaked at the sudden inexplicable appearance of U2's Songs of Innocence album on their Apple devices. The band's frontman Bono has candidly apologized. It happened during a special Facebook Q & A. Oops. Sorry about that. Had this beautiful idea. Might have got carried away with ourselves. Artists are prone to that kind of thing. Apple had touted the move as a, quote, big moment in music history. And said over 500 million people received songs of innocence. Unfortunately, some of those 500 mil were not interested in listening to U2.

Let alone having it on their devices. The backlash was so bad it forced Apple to create an online tool to help folks remove the album from their iTunes' libraries. Amazon recently capitalized on the snafu, sending out a tweet earlier this week saying while the album was streaming for free, they weren't just going to add it to your library for you. But all things considered, the album has done fairly well. Speaking with Apple's senior VP of Internet Software and Services, Billboard reports it managed to be downloaded 26 million times with over 81 million listening to individual songs. Not bad, Bono.

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