Iggy Pop Weighs In on U2 Album Gifting
As the world still tries to decide whether or not it’s okay with U2 giving away a half-billion copies of their new album, Songs of 
Innocence, to iTunes customers, we may have finally found an opinion that truly matters.
Last night at the fourth annual John Peel Lecture at the Radio Festival in Salford, UK, punk rock godfather, Iggy Pop, presented a lecture that touched on “free music in a capitalist society.”
When the subject of U2’s latest marketing ploy came up, Pop relayed the following: “The people who don’t want the free U2 download are trying to say, don’t try to force me. And they’ve got a point.”
He added: “Part of the process when you buy something from an artist, it’s a kind of anointing, you are giving people love. It’s your choice to give or withhold. You are giving a lot of yourself, besides the money. But in this particular case, without the convention, maybe some people felt like they were robbed of that chance, and they have a point.”
And so does Pop.
While discussing his own business practices, Pop summed things up nicely: “If I had to depend on what I actually get from [album] sales I’d be tending bars between sets.”
-Adam Grant
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