Ever the most righteous of rock stars, U2’s Bono has admitted that he is “overpaid”. In an interview with USA Today he also lambasted Illegal downloading, claiming that he was standing up for the little guy, i.e. less well off musicians, as opposed to trying to protect his own, considerable, wealth.

In the interview, he went on to say: "People think that people like me are overpaid and over nourished, and they’re not wrong. But what they’re missing is; how does a songwriter get paid?

"It’s not the place for rich rock stars to ask for more money, but somebody should fight for fellow artists, because this is madness. Music has become tap water, a utility, where for me it’s a sacred thing, so I’m a little offended [by illegal downloading]."

Bono must have been studying his tea-leaves of late, as he went on to prophetically predict that illegal file sharing would be cracked down on for good once the film and television industries find themselves in a similar position.

"The music business has been thrown to the dogs, legislatively," he said, but added "[that will change when] file sharing of TV shows and movies becomes as easy as songs. Somebody is going to call the cops."