Apple and U2 have had a close relationship for a long time, and to help top off Apple's iPhone and Watch media event this past Tuesday, the band flew in from across the Atlantic to play a set for attendees at the Flint Conference Center. Even more impressive is that Apple is providing U2's new album -- Songs of Innocence -- to 500 million iTunes users across 119 countries for free.
For free.
Even if you're not a U2 fan you can't deny that this is a helluva gesture from Apple. More interesting, though, is how much did Apple have to pay U2 and their label to convince them to forgo traditional sales channels and instead opt to release a brand new album -- their first in 5 years -- for free.
The New York Times relays that the deal was anything but cheap:
To release U2's album free, Apple paid the band and Universal an unspecified fee as a blanket royalty and committed to a marketing campaign for the band worth up to $100 million, according to several people briefed on the deal. That marketing will include a global television campaign, the first piece of which was a commercial that was shown during the event.
Bono, U2's lead singer, alluded to the deal himself at Apple's event. After the band performed, he and Mr. Cook playfully negotiated over how the album could be released through iTunes "in five seconds." Mr. Cook said it could if the album was given away free.
"But first you would have to pay for it," Bono said, "because we're not going in for the free music around here."
If there's one thing Apple has in spades, it's cold hard cash.
No comments:
Post a Comment