Filip Novotny In recent weeks, the band U2 has been mentioned very often together with the company Apple. We were able to connect these two entities for the first time many years ago thanks to a special black and red edition of the iPod player. Most recently, thanks to the band's performance at the launch of the iPhone 6 and also the new album Songs of Innocence, which maybe you are too found on your phone (even though you they didn't want to). U2 frontman Bono has now spoken about the connection with Apple in interview for Irish station 2FM.
Irish journalist Dave Fanning, after initial questions about the album itself, became interested in the criticism that U2 and Apple faced due to the indiscriminate way of donating the album. Bono, in turn, indiscriminately leaned into abuse from bloggers:
The same people who wrote on toilet walls when we were kids are in the blogosphere today. Blogs are enough to make you disillusioned in a democracy (laughter). But no, let them say what they want. Why not? They spread hate, we spread love. We will never agree.
Bono further explained why he decided to work with Apple. According to him, the purpose of the whole event is to offer the album to as many people as possible. In his opinion, his band and the Californian company succeeded in this. Songs of Innocence has already been downloaded by 77 million users, which also caused a rocket jump in sales of other albums. For example selective singles climbed into the top 10 in 14 different countries around the world.
People who wouldn't normally be exposed to our music have a chance to hear it this way. If they take it to heart, we don't know. We don't know if our songs will be important to them even in a week. But they still have that option, which is really interesting for a band that's been around for so long.
The conversation didn't just stay with U2's current topics, Bono also mentioned his plans for the future. Together with Apple, he would like to introduce a new format that somewhat resembles the not entirely successful iTunes LP project.
Why can't I use my phone or iPad to get lost in a world created by artists using photography? When we listen to Miles Davis, why can't we watch Herman Leonard photos? Or find out with one click what mood he was in when he composed the song? What about lyrics, why can't we read Bob Dylan's words while listening to his music?
Bono is said to have already discussed this idea with Steve Jobs:
Five years ago, Steve was at my house in France, and I said to him, "How can the person who cares about design the most of anyone in the world let iTunes look like an Excel spreadsheet?"
And Steve Jobs' reaction?
He was not happy. And that's why he promised me that we would work together on this, which we have been doing for years with the people at Apple. Although it was not yet ready for Songs of Innocence, but for Songs of Experience it will be. And it's really exciting. This is a new format; you'll still be able to download the mp3 or steal it somewhere, but it won't be the full experience. It will be like walking down the streets of Dublin in the 70s with an album in hand Sticky Fingers by the Rolling Stones; just the vinyl itself without the Andy Warhol cover. You also felt like you didn't have the complete thing.
The frontman of U2 can undoubtedly get excited about the subject and describe it very concisely. Even so, his project of cooperation with Apple still sounds like a failed iTunes LP, which, despite the great interest of Steve Jobs himself, failed to attract enough customers.
However, Bono adds, “Apple has 885 million iTunes accounts right now. And we're going to help them get to a billion.” In addition to the fact that the Irish singer revealed numbers that Apple has not yet disclosed, it is also interesting that the cooperation between the two entities will probably continue. And not only through the Product RED project, a brand that financially supports the fight against AIDS.
After all, at the end of the interview, Bono himself admitted that his cooperation with Apple does not only have a charitable dimension. The iPhone manufacturer - far more than any other technology company - makes sure that musicians get paid for their work.
Nothing against Bono, but neither does the iTunes ver. 1 under MacOS 9 does not even remotely remind me of the latest Excel spreadsheet or the original 3D-Calc spreadsheet or Lotus 1-2-3 from the Atari ST from the eighties.
Lotus 1-2-3 in DOS was, like some other programs of the time (I used PC Shell a lot), wonderful. They were controlled wonderfully with letters on the keyboard, no Ctrl or Alt and ran so fast... :-)