U2 may advance the release date of their new album to lessen potential damage if a rough cut CD version of the album, which went missing in Nice on Tuesday, finds its way onto the Internet or is pirated in eastern Europe or China.
With police in France investigating the disappearance of the CD from the Riviera recording studio in Nice, the band and their record company are extremely anxious to get it back.
However, it is still unknown whether the CD has been stolen or is simply missing.
Members of the the band yesterday voiced their concern. Lead guitarist The Edge said: "A large slice of two years' work lifted via a piece of round plastic. It doesn't seem credible but that's what's just happened to us . . . and it was my CD."
U2 manager Mr Paul McGuinness said: "The recording of this album has been going so well. The band is so excited about its release. It would be a shame if unfinished work fell into the wrong hands."
"This matter is of great concern to us," said Mr Lucian Grainge, chairman and chief executive officer of Universal Music Group UK. "As the missing CD is our property, we're very keen to find it as soon as possible, and the French police are being extremely helpful in this regard."
According to the local Nice-Matin newspaper, because the rough cut of the CD had not yet been officially copyrighted, U2 enjoys no legal protection for the material.
There are two theories on the disappearance. The first is that it was a casual theft in which case the culprit is likely to destroy the CD and it will have been much ado about nothing.
But there is also the danger that an Internet pirate is involved and will release the disc on the Web. The pirate would gain nothing financially, but would be covered with glory in the small world of cyber pirates.
Internet piracy and file sharing are the biggest concerns for the worldwide music industry, which has seen a steady decline in sales since the introduction of the World Wide Web.
The record industry has resolutely tried to shut down websites that allow visitors to download music files free of charge. The most famous case so far in the fight against file sharing was the Napster case.
A report published by Microsoft on Internet music piracy last year said: "The success that the music industry has had in stopping file swapping on systems such as Napster was due entirely to the fact that many of them rely on a few people to provide most of the material being swapped."
The problem today is that technology advancements have made it possible for much greater numbers to provide and exchange the latest music information. Record firms have rallied together to combat this unregulated threat to their industry, but not always successfully.
Earlier this month, four of the biggest international record companies were sued by a Belgian consumer watchdog after more than 200 consumers complained they could not make back-up copies of copy-protected CDs or play them on some CD players.
Sony, EMI, Universal Music and BMG are being sued by the watchdog for putting an extra layer of data on CDs that prevents them from being copied successfully, and restricts the types of players that the CDs can play on.
The watchdog took the court action to prohibit the four music giants from releasing CDs containing copy-protection technology.