Almost all publishers and labels dislike the U2 album giveaway—Iovine’s biggest splash thus far at Apple—for the simple reason that it’s bad for their business model and for that of strategic partners like Spotify. Soon thereafter, when the band and Apple drew criticism on the grounds of invasion of privacy, making both appear vulnerable, the bashing from rights holders began in earnest. The fact of the matter is that, at this point in its career, U2’s agenda and that of the recorded-music business have never been more divergent, with record sales no longer representing a significant part of the band’s revenues, while sales remain central to the rights holders’ existence even at this transitional point. In any case, Bono’s contention that 38m people listened to Songs of Innocence during its first week of availability—despite the fact that iTunes isn’t nearly as big a factor outside the U.S. and U.K.—indicates that the giveaway was as successful for U2 as it has been for Apple.