Thumbs up to U2 and the release of its thirteenth album out on iTunes now for free. Thumbs down for the band and iTunes forcing the album into every iTunes user's personal music library.
Music holds more mass appeal than just about anything on this planet; the limitless varieties, applications and events music has to offer can satisfy any type of person. Free music rocks, simple as that. Free music forced upon you, however, does not rock. There’s nothing that catches the eye of a modern teen — the most likely culprit to be surfing the web or iTunes — like the words free and music side by side. However, this doesn’t mean all hundreds of millions of iTunes account holders wanted U2’s new album, "Songs of Innocence," to appear in their personal libraries.
On the surface, this idea was generous — thanks for the free music, U2! But no matter how much you like U2, you probably didn’t want a random album sneaking into your library. iTunes was behind the mass release, giving the unique free and automatic download as a gift to iTunes users and also to U2, in celebration of its first album release in five years.
What other artists have ever forced their way into all the personal iTunes libraries? It takes an exceptional amount of confidence to feel like hopping into all these personal accounts and assume that the account holders want your music in there.
While U2 is an extremely reputable band, with one of the most colorful band biographies there’s ever been and an unrivaled advocacy effort for many global issues, this sheds a weird light on them. The band and iTunes could’ve been more reasonable and settled for a free album, downloadable by choice, on iTunes.
Members of U2 wanted everyone to know what their band was about, but that could be done in many more ways than forcing themselves into every personal music library. For some people, their collection of music is particular and intimate. Music gets people out of bed, motivates them to go to the gym, soothes them when they’ve had a tough day and invigorates them when they need it. The automatic surprise party U2 threw in everyone’s libraries might be alarming and annoying for many people.
The mass release was innovative and surely well-intentioned. However, it really disregards a lot of people’s personal space. Many iTunes users build their libraries, constantly contributing to iTunes and personalizing their accounts. Free is always nice, but keep it optional, iTunes. People like options. Look at Chipotle and all the yogurt places where you can pick out what flavors and toppings you want: People like to pick and choose their own things, from burritos to sprinkles to songs.
"Songs of Innocence" has been deemed the largest album release of all time, but is that worth anything? An album that shows up in every iTunes account out there is obviously going to top that chart.
Normally this would end with a link to “download here,” but in this case, it’s like the friend that walks in without knocking. Check out your library for this one; it’s already there.
Reach the columnist at aerumore@asu.edu or follow her on Twitter @AubreyElleR
Editor’s note: The opinions presented in this column are the author’s and do not imply any endorsement from The State Press or its editors.
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