Darius Rucker brands U2 free album release 'genius'

"You know, I thought U2 giving away a record was genius," says country singer Darius Rucker, speaking from New Orleans, where his tour is currently stationed. "It was genius and they can afford it. I can't imagine any of the four guys in U2 are hurting for money, with the success they've had."

Having migrated from the summit of pop stardom with Hootie & the Blowfish to a country music career, Darius understands the new demands that the digitisation of music has put on artists.

"Nowadays your records are just advertisements, promotions for your tour," he says, "That's just the way it is. It sucks to watch it change that drastically, but you have to accept it and move on and do what you have to do to make a living as a musician."

U2 whipped up controversy this month when iTunes users found Songs Of Innocence sitting in their library, prompting apple to create a dedicated site to help disgruntled users remove it. Like many others, Darius just reckons it was a clever piece of marketing.

"When I saw on TV, that U2 were giving it away for free, I thought that it was a prime example of what I'm saying," he told Hot Press. "Back in the '90s, nobody would have given their record away for free, because that's how everybody made money."

Darius also talked to us about his upcoming Christmas album, the joys of Biggie Smalls and dealing with years of hate mail. Keep an eye out for the full interview, coming soon!