U2's Horizon Already in Plain View

Universal Australia accidentally puts album online, many downloads ensue

By Natalie Finn Feb 20, 2009 11:55 PMTags
Bono, The Edge, U2Kevin Mazur/WireImage.com

Objects on the Horizon are closer than they appear.

Despite U2's best efforts to keep their 12th studio album, No Line on the Horizon, under wraps until its March 3 release, it's out there, baby, and has been downloaded about 100,000 times.

The pirates were kept at bay, however. In these fileshare-happy times of ours, it was actually Universal Music Group mate Universal Australia that accidentally made the album available for download earlier this week. The label remedied its mistake a few hours later but, by then, enough fans around the globe—including the fan blog U2log.com—had snatched it up for $19.98 to turn a leak into a flood.

Universal Australia wouldn't comment on how the 11-track album ended up on sale two weeks early.

But though some of the thunder surrounding the arrival of U2's first studio album since 2004's How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb has been stolen, there is plenty more to look forward to on the Horizon.

In addition to a free MySpace Music preview, Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. are taking up residence at the Late Show With David Letterman for an entire week starting March 2 and will be playing Good Morning America on March 6, their first ever live performance on a network morning show.

Also helping to get the word out was the band's opening performance of "Get on Your Boots," the first single from the new album, Feb. 8 at the Grammy Awards.