Skip to main contentSkip to navigationSkip to navigation
U2 and Apple CEO Tim Cook accidentally point in the same direction at the exact same time.
U2 and Apple CEO Tim Cook celebrated the band’s album giveaway, but some iTunes users weren’t so happy. Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
U2 and Apple CEO Tim Cook celebrated the band’s album giveaway, but some iTunes users weren’t so happy. Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

U2 and Apple collaborate on non-piratable 'interactive format for music'

This article is more than 9 years old

Bono says that that the band have been working on new technology that will revolutionise the way in which we consume albums

U2 and Apple are apparently collaborating on a new, “interactive format for music”, due to launch in “about 18 months”. Bono spoke to Time about a new tech scheme which “can’t be pirated” and will reimagine the role of album artwork.

“I think it’s going to get very exciting for the music business,” Bono said as part of Time’s 29 September cover story on U2. According to journalist Catherine Mayer, the singer foresees that this new technology “will prove so irresistibly exciting to music fans that it will tempt them again into buying music – whole albums as well as individual tracks”. By evading piracy, the format’s creators hope it isn’t just a boon to massive acts like U2, but also to performers less likely to sell out an arena or a lorry full of merch. “Songwriters aren’t touring people,” Bono explained. “Cole Porter wouldn’t have sold T-shirts. Cole Porter wasn’t coming to a stadium near you.”

Although initial reports compared the project to Neil Young’s Pono, or to Apple’s early DRM-restricted FairPlay files, Billboard reports that this is a bit of a misunderstanding. “It’s not a new format, but rather a new way to package and present an album,” said an unnamed source “with knowledge of the situation”. “This is focused on creative advances, versus shifts in technology.”

Ultimately, U2’s venture may be much more comparable to iTunes LP, which Apple premiered in 2009. That technology lets artists bundle visuals, interviews, and bonus content with digital album purchases. Compare this to Bono’s description of their new undertaking: “[This] will bring back album artwork in the most powerful way,” he said, “where you can play with the lyrics and get behind the songs when you’re sitting on the subway with your iPad or on these big flat screens. You can see photography like you’ve never seen it before.”

Given the timeline, Apple’s new music concept is unlikely to apply to U2’s Songs of Innocence, nor sway the users who are desperate to get the band’s free album off their computers. But the Irish rockers’ follow-up, dubbed Songs of Experience, will probably serve as the technology’s debut. According to a message on U2’s website, that record will “be ready soon enough”.

More on this story

More on this story

  • U2 cancel concert in Berlin after Bono loses his voice

  • Château La Coste – the pricey backdrop to Bono’s holiday pics

  • Bono: bullying allegations at charity made me furious

  • Bono’s anti-poverty campaign faces claims of harassment

  • Music has 'gotten very girly’, says Bono from U2

  • U2: Songs of Experience review – frequently fantastic return to form

  • Tax rogues like Bono are harming the world’s poorest people

  • Bono 'distressed' by fears firm he invested in may have avoided profit tax

  • Bono used Malta-based firm to invest in Lithuanian shopping centre

Comments (…)

Sign in or create your Guardian account to join the discussion

Most viewed

Most viewed