SAN FRANCISCO (Dow Jones) -- Live Nation Inc. has reached a 12-year deal with U2 that gives the U.S. concert promoter exclusive rights to produce the Irish rock band's concerts, manufacture and sell its merchandise, license its image and run its Web site and online fan club, according to a media report Sunday.

Terms of the U2 agreement weren't disclosed, The Wall Street Journal reported in its online edition.

The U2 arrangement, which follows an even broader 10-year deal with Madonna, would guarantee desirable inventory for the new ticketing service, set to launch at the beginning of 2009, the Journal said.

Live Nation (LYV), the world's largest concert promoter by revenue, has said it is parting ways with IAC/Interactive Corp.'s (IACID) Ticketmaster, the biggest ticket seller, when their partnership ends at the end of this year, Live Nation plans to launch a competing ticket service to sell seats to its own concerts as well as events staged by others, the Journal said.

Unlike Live Nation's $120 million deal with Madonna, the U2 agreement, which is to be finalized soon, doesn't cover distribution of recorded music or music publishing, according to the report.

For the same rights Live Nation is getting from U2, the promoter paid Madonna about $70 million, the Journal said.

U2 extended its record contract with Vivendi SA's Universal Music Group SA late last year and also has a long-term publishing deal with Universal, the Journal said.

For U2, the promoter is effectively paying the band to lock in the status quo: Live Nation or its predecessors have produced and promoted every world-wide U2 tour since 1997, and a Live Nation subsidiary already manages the band's Web site and fan club, the Journal said.

Formed in Dublin in 1976, U2 remains one of the most potent live draws in the world. Its most recent tour was the second-highest-grossing concert tour in history, earning $389.4 million at the box office, according to data from Billboard magazine. The Rolling Stones' 2005-07 "Bigger Bang" tour took in $ 558.3 million. Live Nation promoted both.

U2's record sales haven't held up quite as well; 2004's "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb" wasn't among the 10 best-selling albums in the U.S. that year, the Journal said.

  (END) Dow Jones Newswires
  03-31-08 0045ET
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