With the figures of illegally downloaded music continuing to rise, Apple and Bono are reportedly working on a secret project to make users pay for music again.

Downloading music for free is a relatively easy task. I won’t talk you through how to do it (I like staying out of prison and there are plenty of walkthroughs on Google *hint hint*) but it’s easy enough. There are preteens who know that paying for an album that you might hate isn’t always the best idea and just like the aforementioned search engine, they can probably point you in the right direction too. So it makes sense that with the ease of use, no one really wants to shell out ten or more dollars for a half an hour compilation of lovingly crafted songs. But, the topic of songwriters and musicians in the digital age has often been a thorny one with some artists saying that streaming sites like SoundCloud, Spotify and YouTube leave them out of pocket. Apple and Bono want to come to their rescue though, with the U2 frontman revealing that they’re working on a ‘secret project’.

So just what could this secret project be? Well, as Bono revealed in an interview with TIME Magazine that’s set to be published in full next week, he and Apple will lbe putting together a new digital file type. According to the singer, the file type is “so terribly exciting to music fans that it will tempt them again into buying music”. He’s probably blowing his own horn a bit there and it’s unlikely that a collection of paid-for files will ever have the delicious allure of a (possibly, illegally) downloaded freebie, but we’ll hear him out for fairness sake.

What he also says is that it’ll be great news for those who make the music we listen to as many of them aren’t touring types. Ergo, money that they lose when you jump on your favourite neighbourhood torrent site and get the album for nothing can’t be made up by selling concert tickets, t-shirts and other assorted merchandise. That’s fair enough to say because few would disagree that those who make good music deserve to be compensated for it but is a new file type the best option rather than just looking at the existing model (iTunes, revenue from streaming etc.) and changing it for the better? That’s something we can’t answer yet but clearly Bono seems to think he and Apple are on to something special so as always, we’ll keep you posted once we know more.

Source: TIME

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