The Bono-led band, which started out its career on Island Records and has put out records in the U.S. on Interscope, went triple-platinum in the States with its 2004 album How To Build An Atomic Bomb; Friedman's tipster is claiming that the band's contract with its label was either fulfilled by Bomb or the recently released remaster of The Joshua Tree.

If the Live Nation deal does come to pass, it'll be interesting to see how U2's recording career is handled by the company; they're one of the few bands out there that can rake in the big bucks on tour and still sell a lot of records, although who knows how their album sales will fare in this year's ever-decimated retail landscape. - more on this story

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