We’re not promoting free music: U2

U2 frontman Bono says though the band’s new album is available for free download, he and his bandmates are against free music.

U2’s decision to make its newest album Songs of Innocence available for free download on iTunes has sparked criticism.

Many music industry insiders are accusing the band of undermining all the up and coming artists by supporting free music, reported Aceshowbiz.

Bono said his band should not be blamed as it was Apple who gave away their album. “We’re not giving it away. Apple is giving it away. That is really important for everyone to know. I’m against free music. But the idea that someone in, I don’t know, Seoul, might just check your music out because you’re there and because it’s a news story, is good,” he said.

“And thank goodness Universal struck a deal. I mean it only goes to pay off our debt by the way. It’s not going in our back pocket,” he continued. “The charts are broken. They do not measure what people are listening to and they do not measure people’s passion in music. They do not measure people’s desire to pay for that music and they should be respected for that.”

U2 bassist Adam Clayton added that he knew releasing the album in such an unusual way would obviously result in  a controversy.

“I’m aware of (the criticism). It’s kind of very predictable. There are people who will debate it for a very long time. I’m not at all naive at this point. I know that it’s cheeky on so many levels. But you know what? I think we’ll take it on the chin,” he said.