A free U2 album was a nice surprise yesterday. In the college class I teach on Monday night we were discussing what “radio” is (and my philosophy of why I am teaching much more than just AM/FM) and the various strengths and weaknesses of each form of “radio.” For Apple, we talked about the coolness factor and the ecosystem.
LiveNation has U2 under a 360 contract, they can simply build in the price of the album. Universal Music can collect on vinyl, a small amount of physical CDs, and streaming. My guess though is that “Songs of Innocence” will limited to streaming on iTunes Radio and not available on Spotify and other services.
via U2 Gives Away New Album NOW, Skip Charts, And Who Cares? No Money in CD Sales | Showbiz411.
So that’s pretty interesting. iTunes radio has at worst a window here where the album is exclusive to them. Heading forward I wonder if it will open up to the others.