“In a conversation on the main stage at the Web Summit in Dublin today, U2 lead singer Bono provided some more tantalizing hints about how the band is collaborating with Apple,” Chris O’Brien reports for VentureBeat. “‘They let us into the labs,’ Bono said.”
“To illustrate the kind of concepts U2 and Apple might be exploring, Bono told the story of being in a house in France with Steve Jobs a decade ago. Bono looked at a version of iTunes being displayed on a TV screen and asked Jobs if he liked design so much, then ‘why does that look like a spreadsheet?'” O’Brien reports. “Bono said he had wondered why the album covers displayed on iTunes weren’t interactive or why they didn’t display archival photos, lyrics, or 3-D versions of band members: anything that would make for a more engaging visual experience with fans to complement the music.”
“Jobs replied that the operating system and the technology didn’t quite exist yet for such an experience,” O’Brien reports. “‘But it does now,’ Bono said.”
Read more in the full article here.
Related articles:
Apple and U2 working on non-piratable ‘interactive format for music,’ sources say – September 19, 2014
Apple and U2 working on secret project to save the music industry – September 18, 2014
Oooh! A secret! From Bono! Can’t wait to throw it away.
Now that you’ve been to the Apple Labs, met privately with Steve & blabbed about it, Apple Security Force One will make you disappear. HEE hee!
So Bono & Reznor are both pitching concepts to Apple about music? Interesting…
So Bono, you convinced apple to pay you 100 million dollars so you could give your album away to 26 million people and now you’ve seen the inside of their labs. I’m impressed. You are one hell of a negotiator.
Tantalising hints? Bricks dropped on one’s bare foot, more like
Expect him to be employed by Samsung imminently then. He immediately advises an upgrade to the garden shed they use currently.
Why doesn’t bono use the money to enrol in some singing classes?
Why was that free album not a project RED item.
Because it would dip into Bono’s pocket.
Such negativity, tsk, tsk.
Sounds like a grand idea to me!
Why so much negativity, guys? The guy may be a bit pompous at times, but he’s trying to help save iTunes. Quite frankly, it’s going to need it, given current digital music trends. The ideas he pitched to Jobs about interactive art sound great, and I hope they see fruition.
He’s not going to save iTunes, not with what he’s describing. No one cares about band photos and 3D lyrics. If you want to see a photo of the band, do a Google search and see thousands. By and large, people don’t watch their music, they listen to it on the go (car, working out, at a club). If I’m at my computer listening to music, I’m working on something else, not staring at the “spreadsheet” other than to select other music.
What’s going to “save” iTunes as it were, or at least what I think you’re referring to, is Beats Music. Apple didn’t spend that kind of money to get a line of overpriced, but stylish headphones. They saw where the market was headed, and they want to have a great product.
Phase 1: iPod & iTunes
Phase 2: Free music everywhere
Phase 3: Artists magically get rich (it could happen)
Designed by Apple in California