U2 Sneak Out Vinyl Copies of 'Songs of Innocence' Early to Qualify for 2015 Grammys

BY Alex HudsonPublished Sep 30, 2014

U2 have already infected iTunes users around the world, and now it seems that they're looking to infiltrate the Grammy Awards too. Continuing their recent streak of sneakiness, the Irish arena giants just released a limited vinyl edition of their album Songs of Innocence; probably not coincidentally, today (September 30) is also the cut-off date for eligibility for the 2015 Grammys.

In order to be eligible for the Grammys, an album has to be released commercially before September 30. Since Songs of Innocence was initially released for free, it didn't meet the Grammys' guidelines.

The album's official in-store release date is October 14, and this would have meant that U2 would have had to wait until the 2016 Grammys. By releasing some copies ahead of time, however, the band managed to slip in before the deadline.

A spokesperson for the awards told Rolling Stone, "As long as the album, be it CD, vinyl or digital, is available commercially for sale to the public by our eligibility cutoff date at a nationally recognized retailer or website, then it's eligible for consideration."

The 57th instalment of the Grammy Awards will take place on February 8. If U2 have their way, we can expect to see them there. Whether the album is actually good enough to merit consideration, however, is a different question altogether.

For those interested in purchasing a physical copy of Songs of Innocence (and haven't been able to find it today), it will arrive via Island Records/Universal Music Canada on October 15 on CD, double-disc deluxe CD, or 180-gram double-LP. The deluxe edition comes with two extra songs and two demos.

Latest Coverage