U2 have surprised fans by releasing their first album in five years, ‘Songs of Innocence’ - and the good news is it won’t cost you a penny to listen to it.
Following a performance at an Apple event in California on Tuesday - where the tech giants unveiled the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus and Apple Watch - the band announced that iTunes users would be able to download their brand new album for free.
U2 at the Academy Awards earlier this year
Speaking about his excitement to collaborate with Apple, lead singer Bono said: “From the very beginning U2 have always wanted our music to reach as many people as possible, the clue is in our name I suppose - so today is kind of mind-blowing to us.
“Working with Apple is always a blast. They only want to do things that haven’t been done before - that’s a thrill to be part of.”
He also revealed that he was hoping the fact the free download experience would encourage more people to listen to their album, explaining: "The most personal album we've written could be shared with half a billion people… by hitting send. If only songwriting was that easy.
“It’s exciting and humbling to think that people who don’t know U2 or listen to rock music for that matter might check us out.”
The group had previously teased that an album was coming this year, with Bono telling Rolling Stone magazine: “We wanted to make a very personal album.
“The whole album is first journeys - first journeys geographically, spiritually, sexually. And that's hard. But we went there.”
‘Songs Of Innocence’ will remain exclusive to iTunes as a free download until 13 October.
