It turns out that most of the U2 rumors were true, Apple did invite U2 to perform on stage during the iPhone 6 event and the band’s latest album will be available as a free download to iTunes users for about a month. Did Apple do it just because it has a special relationship with the band? Business Insider thinks it has figured out the secret reason for Apple’s decision to pay for the all the free U2 album downloads that will take place through October 13.

As an extra special treat, it includes an iTunes Music Store coupon you can use to get $50 off your purchase of “The Complete U2.” As unique as the iPod itself, this digital boxed set brings together an amazing 446 U2 tracks.

FROM EARLIER: Regardless of denials, a musical surprise is coming to the iPhone 6 launch event

The free download is not related to any Apple product purchase in any way, as it was previously believed. Users simply have to log into iTunes to get the album without any hassles, regardless of whether they actually own any Apple hardware at all.

Apple has well over 800 million registered iTunes accounts complete with payment data, but the company might be trying to further increase its iTunes numbers as it gets ready to roll out Apple Pay, its wireless payments solution for iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus and Apple Watch.

iTunes accounts are an integral part of this new business, with Apple having already revealed that credit cards stored in iTunes can be easily be added to Apple Pay.

So, to download U2’s album for free, you need to register an iTunes account – if you don’t have one – and you can also add a credit card, or payment option, to it in the process. In the future, that account might be used for anything Apple related, as soon as you get either a Mac, an iOS device or a smartwatch, but even without purchasing Apple hardware. iTunes still works on Windows, offering users access to plenty of content, that can be easily purchased and instantly enjoyed – Apple gets a share of those purchases as well.

In other words, Apple has plenty of reasons to want to increase its iTunes base, with Apple Pay being just one of them.

According to a recent report from Bloomberg, Apple will receive a fee for every Apple Pay transaction, which means the company will get a share of the more than $40 billion banks generate each year from credit card transactions.

Meanwhile, downloading U2’s “Song of Innocence” album from iTunes is easy as pie. All you have to do is log into iTunes, search for the album if it’s not already on the front page, and download it to your device free of charge – to make it even easier, all you have to do is follow this link to get directly to the album in iTunes.

UPDATE: Meanwhile, U2’s album should already show up in everyone’s iTunes accounts, and even on iOS devices, depending on their iCloud settings. Furthermore, some of our readers have pointed out that creating a new account without adding a payment option is possible, and thus downloading the album does not require a new user to add his or her payment information. While that’s true, as long as Apple gets you to create an iTunes account, its job is half done, as it still gets more subscribers, many of whom may very well spend more money inside iTunes in the future.

Digital Album

Track Listing:

• 'Levitate' (Demo from All That You Can't Leave Behind Sessions) - U2 (05:09)
• 'Love You Like Mad' (Demo from All That You Can't Leave Behind Sessions) - U2 (04:17)
• 'Smile' (Demo from How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb Sessions) - U2 (03:17)
• 'Flower Child' (Studio Version from All That You Can't Leave Behind Sessions) - U2 (04:54)
• 'Beautiful Ghost / Introduction to Songs of Experience' (Studio Version) - U2 (03:56)
• 'Jesus Christ' (Studio Version) - U2 (03:14)
• 'Xanax and Wine' (Demo from How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb Sessions) - U2 (04:39)
• 'All Because of You' (Alternate Version) - U2 (03:35)
• 'Native Son' (Demo from How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb Sessions) - U2 (03:08)
• 'Yahweh' (Alternate Version) - U2 (04:31)
• 'Sometimes You Can't Make it On Your Own' (Alternate Version) - U2 (05:30)
• 'Numb' (Edit) - U2 (03:57)
• 'Night and Day' (Twilight Remix) - U2 (05:30)
• 'Bass Trap' (Studio - Best of Edit) - U2 (03:33)
• 'Numb' (Gimme Some More Dignity Mix - Best of Edit) - U2 (05:51)
• 'Salomé' (Zooromancer Remix - Best of Edit) - U2 (05:52)
• 'Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)' (Studio Version) - U2 (02:21)
• 'Stateless' (Studio Version) - U2 (04:06)

Background Information

In 2004 U2 worked with Apple’s iTunes store to put together a “digital box set” of U2 Recordings entitled “The Complete U2.” The set was only available through the iTunes music store for download, and included material from the first EP “Three” right through the most recent single “Vertigo”, including albums, singles and EPs. The initial launch of the set included 446 songs. The set retailed for $149.99 in the US, and a $50 coupon for the set was included in U2 Edition iPods which had also gone on sale in November 2004. Also included in the set were several rare recordings that were grouped together as albums. These “digital albums” were accompanied by new artwork designed by Four5One, the creative design firm which has done much of U2’s graphic design through the years. These album covers were embedded in each song on the “digital album” as well as being showcased in the digital booklet, designed by Shaughn McGrath, which accompanied the set in pdf format.

These rarities included in “The Complete U2” were marked as “album only” when the set went on sale. Thus you had to buy the entire set to get these rare tracks. An error in the launch of the set in the Canadian iTunes store left these songs available for individual purchase for the first three days the set was available on that store. The album was initially released in 2004 at 128kbs quality and as of December 20, 2007 was removed from the iTunes store and is no longer available to purchase. However in May 2009, when the iTunes Plus upgrades were made available, users who had previously purchased “The Complete U2” could upgrade the quality to 256kbs quality, but it still remains unavailable for new purchases.

“Unreleased & Rare” features several tracks that had never appeared on any other commercial release. This was the debut of “Levitate”, “Flower Child” and “Love You Like Mad” from the “All That You Can’t Leave Behind” recording sessions. From the “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb” sessions we get “Smile”, “Xanax and Wine” (an early version of “Fast Cars”, “Native Son” (an early version of “Vertigo”), and alternate versions of “All Because of You”, “Yahweh” and “Sometimes You Can’t Make it On Your Own”. From “The Joshua Tree” we get the song “Beautiful Ghost / Introduction to Songs of Experience”. The other songs included here are songs which aren’t found on albums, but have been previously released before. “Jesus Christ” is taken from “Folkways A Vision Shared”, “Numb (Radio Edit” comes from a “Numb” promotional release, “Bass Trap (Edit)” was first released on “The Best of 1980 – 1990 & B Sides”, “Night and Day (Twilight Remix)” appeared on the “Night and Day” promotional release. The final four tracks are far from rare, “Numb (Gimme Some More Dignity Edit)” and “Salomé (Zooromancer Edit)” were both released on “The Best of 1990-2000 and B Sides”, “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” was released on the still in print “A Very Special Christmas”, and “Stateless” was released on the soundtrack to “Million Dollar Hotel”.

Out of the rare tracks issued here for the first time, all of them went on to make up the first disc of “Medium, Rare & Remastered”, the 2009 fan club present from u2.com. Thus all of the songs from this set have now been released on a physical audio format. But at the time of the release of “The Complete U2”, this digital format was the only way to get these particular songs. “Beautiful Ghost” would also be featured on deluxe versions of the remastered “The Joshua Tree”.

“Xanax and Wine” featured here was an early version of the song “Fast Cars” which was eventually released on some versions of “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb”. “Native Son” was an early version of “Vertigo” and was based on the story of Leonard Peltier. Bono felt he would have difficulty performing those lyrics in front of an audience, and chose to rewrite the song as “Vertigo”. The song “Beautiful Ghost” is an early instrumental track from the recording of “The Joshua Tree”, and Bono reads the poem “Introduction to Songs of Experience” by William Blake over top of the piece. In the accompanying liner notes The Edge describes “Smile” as a song that arrived too late for inclusion on the album, “Love You Like Mad” as a song that got lost in the crush, and “Beautiful Ghost” and “Flower Child” as songs that are waiting for a rewrite before they could be released. “Levitate” is described as a song that just wouldn’t fit in. The early versions of “All Because of You” and “Sometimes You Can’t Make it On Your Own” are the Chris Thomas produced versions, which reveal how close they got to a finished record with producer Thomas. And “Yahweh” was an alternate mix of the track, done by Nellee Hooper, which almost made the final mix of the album.

Liner Notes

No individual song credits are given except for “Beautiful Ghost”: Lyrics by William Blake, Introduction to Songs of Experience, Public domain. No individual song credits for these tracks was given when they were released later on “Medium, Rare and Remastered”.

Artwork

Design by Four5One° Creative.

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