Reviews of legendary band U2’s 13th studio album Songs of Innocence have been mixed, but the response by many iTunes users who were gifted a free copy last week has been anything but.
If you’re one of the growing chorus of people who’d rather not be stuck with an album you didn’t ask for – free or not – Apple has finally given you a simple way to get rid of it. Just click here.
“If you would like U2’s Songs of Innocence removed from your iTunes music library and iTunes purchases, you can choose to have it removed. Once the album has been removed from your account, it will no longer be available for you to redownload as a previous purchase. If you later decide you want the album, you will need to get it again. The album is free to everyone until October 13, 2014 and will be available for purchase after that date,” says Apple on the removal page.
All you have to do is click the button that says “Remove Album,” sign in with your Apple ID, and that’s it. No more U2.
If you’re an iTunes user you’re probably familiar with U2/Apple-gate. Last week, during Apple’s big press event for the iPhone 6, CEO Tim Cook announced that U2’s newest album, Songs of Innocence, would be given to every iTunes user – for free.
But instead of simply allowing users to download the album for free if they wanted to do so, Apple pushed the album to everyone. It was mandatory U2. This was a common sentiment in the days that followed:
I can't believe the #U2 album was automatically added to my phone without my permission…I don't even want it. How can Apple do that?
— Savannah Wall (@sosavy) September 12, 2014
Now, after a few days of backlash, Apple has set up a dedicated album removal page.
For the deal, Apple reportedly gave U2 a giant royalty fee and a marketing budget of $100 million. Apple praised the album release as the biggest of all time, forgetting to mention that the record-breaking distribution was completely forced.
Nice try, Bono.