How do you make money giving the whole album away? Did they try to record these as “sales”?
Maybe this is like magazines propping up their subscription numbers with free givaways and 2 years for 1 deals to justify the advertising rates.
Spam millions of iTunes libraries and Voila! Everybody Loves Bono!
Apple paid the tab for each iTunes user, so yes, unfortunately, it did count as sales. (I was more than a little amused by the idea that “Weird Al” Yankovic had the #1 album before this little stunt.)
Also, people who don’t use iTunes would have to buy it themselves if they actually wanted it. (I’ve heard even from U2 fans, that this album was crap, but I am too lazy to find out for myself even though I have an iTunes account).
If you are "omnipresent" you get the magazine covers/press, song placement, and big concert tours (which include merch sales in addition to tickets).
When Prince returned to a major label (Sony) after years of self-release, he had them give away his CD to every concert attendee. He got his first radio hit in years that way.