A closer look
Apple originally forced U2 to give away their album Songs of Innocence for free to every single iTunes user in the world, assuming it would be celebrated as a brilliant marketing stunt and a generous gift to music fans. Instead, half a billion people woke up to find unwanted dad rock aggressively installed on their personal devices, sparking a massive global freakout over digital privacy and corporate overreach. Bono had to publicly apologize for having a massive ego and assuming that literally everyone on the planet wanted his new music automatically downloaded onto their phones without their explicit consent. Apple eventually had to release a dedicated software tool specifically designed to help desperate users purge the album from their libraries, which is definitely not the legacy any legendary rock band wants to leave behind. It remains a legendary cautionary tale about Silicon Valley hubris, proving that no amount of corporate synergy can force millennials to voluntarily listen to a band that peaked in the mid-nineties
