Bono has apologised on video for the free album stunt with Apple, blaming a combination of 'fear' and 'megalomania'.
The U2 frontman gave the candid response during a generally light-hearted Q&A that the band was doing specially for Facebook.
When asked if U2 could never give people an album without their permission again Bono took the lead in replying to one of both Apple and U2's biggest stunts in recent years.
"I’m sorry about that, had this beautiful idea, and we got carried away with ourselves, artists are prone to that kind of thing. A drop of megalomania, touch of generosity, dash of self promotion and deep fear that these songs that we poured our life into over the last few years mightn’t be heard. There’s a lot of noise out there and I guess we got a little noisy ourselves to get through it."
It's a humble and genuinely heartfelt response after the band had reportedly reached over 80 million people through the stunt which meant every iTunes user would get a free copy of the band's newest album 'Songs of Innocence'.