U2’s Gamble With Apple Yields Royal Flush
U2's automatic installation of "Songs of Innocence" may have had Apple customers throwing temper tantrums, but a recent study presents data that suggests 95% of iOS users who listened to U2 in the month of January sampled songs from the new album.
Apple users didn't choke back their disdain for being force-fed U2's album last fall. In fact, most were extremely vocal saying they didn't want it, it took up too much memory, etc. but Kantar conducted a study that offered a favorable outcome for U2. Despite an otherwise unsuccessful album launch by industry standards, nearly one fourth of music users on iOS devices who listened to U2's music in January were listening to at least one song from "Songs of Innocence".
“This is fantastic news,” U2 singer Bono said in a statement. “If these figures suggest that these songs still matter to people, then we’re knocked out. That’s all any songwriter wants.”
It could be argued that some of those "listens" were accidental given the fact that "Songs of Innocence" was effortlessly present on iOS devices, but regardless, the study suggests there was more benefit to taking the gamble with Apple than what all the negative press would lead one to believe.
