The Beatles Just Released a Free EP on iTunes. Notice the Lack of Outrage.
When U2 dropped Songs of Innocence from the cloud into the iTunes accounts of 500 million users earlier, the Internet damn near melted down. “How DARE Apple drop something foreign into something as personal and private as my music collection?” people whinged. And then there are all the people who don’t know what a “U2” is.
As I’ve written and said before, Apple would probably like this one back. They’re very good at giving away free music through iTunes; they do it every week. Why didn’t they just post Songs of Innocence on the front page of iTunes for a month with an invitation for everyone on the planet to come get it? Instead, they decided to inject the record like a virus into the iTunes ecosystem. (For the record, I was very impressed with this technological feat and because I like the band, I’m okay with them giving me free music. Everyone else needs to calm the f**k down. Listen to my interview with The Edge on the subject here.)
Maybe U2 is the new Nickelback, a fate that will probably never, ever befall The Beatles. Witness the free-for-the-taking EP that popped up on iTunes this week. It features four tracks from the solo years of the Fabs:
- John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band: “Love” (1970)
- George Harrison: “Let It Down” (1970)
- Paul McCartney and Wings: “Call Me Back Again” (1975)
- Ringo Starr: “All Things Must Pass” (2010)
Wants some free (but previously released) Beatles? Go here.
