- Music
- 13 Sep 14
U2 manager Gus Oseary has spoken to American trade magazine Billboard about their $100 million deal with Apple.
“U2 worked five years on this album, they poured blood, sweat, tears into the project, and we were really confident with it,” he states. “The goal was: how do we reach as many as possible? U2 first worked with Apple nearly 10 years to the day when they were sharing a stage with Steve Jobs and launching their iPod with many fewer accounts, and here we are 10 years later with Apple gifting this album to 7% of the planet.”
Oseary makes no apologies for Songs Of Innocence automatically appearing in people’s iTunes, and believes it will encourage other acts to come up with similarly innovative ideas.
“When music becomes a piece of the conversation at an Apple event, that’s always a good thing,” he insists. “Two is, the power of music and the fact that it can actually be shared with 7% of the planet in one push of a button. That’s a pretty big concept. Any sort of innovation may inspire other people to do things that are innovative. We may see someone sitting with another manager, or another band going, ‘Hey, what can we do that's interesting maybe with our lyrics or our videos or something interactive with the ticketing to our shows?’”
Fans will also be interested to hear that the physical version of Songs Of Innocence, due here on October 10, will include “four brand new songs… and a bunch of acoustic versions of songs from the album, too. So it’s probably going to be anywhere between nine or 11 songs that were not on the standard. Retail is important too, we’re not trying to alienate anyone.”
Hot Press has heard what’s likely to be one of those bonus cuts, ‘Lucifer’s Hands’, which deals with the idea of control. In it, the classic line from October’s ‘Rejoice’ is turned on its head as Bono suggests: “I can change the world, but I can’t change the world in me…” A big tough dirty rock track, it’ll be a powerful addition to the record.