U2 and Apple giveaway prompts criticism - and no sales

With a new 'delete all' available to non U2 fans who have had the band's latest album 'Songs Of Innocence' inserted (albeit for free) into their iTunes account by Apple, comes news that the Entertainment Retailers Association are non too pleased with Apple's big U2 giveaway, saying that even back catalogue was not really affected by the promotion saying that Official Charts Company data shows that just 6,047 sales of the band's pre-existing nineteen albums followed the giveway - and of those 6000 odd sales, just 60 transactions took place in high street stores (possibly because said shops had no warning about the Apple tie-up, so stocks were low). ERA Chairman Paul Quirk said: "This vindicates our view that giving away hundreds of millions of albums simply devalues music and runs the risk of alienating the 60% of the population who are not customers of iTunes. If one of the justifications of this stunt is that it would drive sales of U2's catalogue through the market as a whole, then so far at least it has been a dismal failure" adding "This promotion is a failure on so many levels. It devalues music, it alienates the majority of people who don't use iTunes and it disappoints those who prefer to shop in physical stores since few shops had U2 stock available".

It has been reported the band may have been paid $100 million for the give way by Apple - But there has been a considerable backlash with several high profile outlets including the Washington Post and LA Times questioning the move. Many iPhone users have complained about the album downloading onto their expensive devices without their permission. Some even described it as a virus.