U2 announces surprise album free for all iTunes users
The album immediately appeared in iTunes users’ music libraries.
However, the giveaway to more than 500 million iTunes users will not count toward official music sales figures at Nielsen SoundScan because it was distributed for free.
The band will release Songs of Innocence and a deluxe version featuring four new tracks and acoustic performances to the rest of the world on Oct 14, its label Interscope Records, said on Tuesday.
Billboard, which will include the album in chart listings only after its October release, said on Tuesday that Songs of Innocence will also miss the Grammy awards eligibility period, which runs from Oct 1 2013 to Sept 30 this year, and only applies to commercially released records.
In July 2013, rapper Jay Z released his album Magna Carta holy grail for free to a million users of Samsung smartphones via a special app.
Source: The Telegraph
