Report: Leaked U2 Album Downloaded Over 445K Times

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 10, 2009 - 12:50pm.

London - U2's new album "No Line On the Horizon" was downloaded more than 445,000 times during the period between when it was leaked onto file-sharing networks on Feb. 18 and its official release date on March 2, Music Ally reported, citing data from peer-to-peer monitoring firm BigChampagne.

The leak was an admitted accident by an Australian digital music retailer, but copies soon showed up on BitTorrent.

What's unclear is whether each of the 445,000 copies represents a lost sale for the band.

"They're probably losing out, but to find out how much, you'd have to get into the head of every music fan and assess whether they would have bought the album if they hadn't gotten it for free," BigChampagne's Eric Garland told Music Ally. "It's a philosophical debate - there's no resolution."

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/dk0fq (Music Ally)

http://www.bigchampagne.com

http://snipurl.com/dk0hq (DMW previous coverage)