According to an article published by UK newspaper the Telegraph, U2 may turn to Appleis iTunes Music Store (iTMS) if a recently stolen copy of their next, unreleased CD turns up on the Internet. In order for the group not to lose sales of their music to months of availability through P2P networks, U2is Bono said the group may turn to the iTMS in order to immediately get the work out in a commercial fashion. A copy of the bandis forthcoming work, which isnit supposed to be released on CD until November, was stolen during a photo shoot earlier this month. From the Telegraph:

This might seem a lot of fuss for a missing CD. Ten years ago bands would glibly hand out advance copies of their albums to friends and co-workers. But in the era of peer-to-peer filesharing, U2 are coming to terms with the fact that two years of hard work on a project expected to generate tens of millions in revenue could be made available as a free download on the internet months in advance of its planned November release.

U2is lead singer Bono has proposed a radical solution. "If it is on the internet this week, we will release it immediately as a legal download on iTunes, and get hard copies into the shops by the end of the month," he told me. "It would be a real pity. It would screw up years of work and months of planning, not to mention [expletive deleted] up our holidays. But once itis out, itis out."

Thereis more in the full story at the Telegraphis Web site, including more background information on how the CD went missing, and issues regarding consolidation in the recording industry. We recommend the article as a very good read.