AFP - Irish rock legends U2 took extraordinary measures to protect profits from their new album ahead of its release on Friday, only to see it circulated widely by Internet pirates.
Record labels are turning to a range of technical and marketing techniques to maximise income in an age of illegal music downloads, and the battle over the much-anticipated "No Line on the Horizon" is a key test.
Copies of the record have been making the rounds of file-sharing websites for several days, threatening to take the shine off Friday's carefully planned launch events, despite draconian pre-launch security.
The album was sent to journalists just days before the release, with access before that limited to private listening sessions organised in record stores for reviewers by label Island/Universal.
Mobile phones, jackets and bags were checked in at the door, and reporters sternly watched to prevent surreptitious recording. All to no avail. The record was already making the rounds of the Internet.
According to Forbes magazine, the leak emanated from an Australian site owned by Universal, which allowed the album to be legally downloaded for two hours, a week before the release date, before realising its mistake.
Some posters on U2 Internet fan forums have accused the label of leaking the songs itself to create buzz around the album, which would in any case have been in illegal circulation once it was formally released.
That may or may not be true, but Universal certainly has other tricks up its sleeve to keep music fans spending and protect U2's royalties.
The band's 12th studio album will be released in five formats: a standard 11-track CD, a digital version including an online movie, a CD with a 64-page magazine, a box set with CD, DVD and book ... and on a vinyl record.
Universal hopes, therefore, that the most fanatic fans will be prepared to pay for all this extra content even if the basic tracks are themselves widely available for free, albeit illegal, download.
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