U2 have joined Madonna on the roster at concert promoters Live Nation, who’ve paid an undisclosed fee for the privilege of handling the Irish band’s merchandising, digital and branding rights.

It’s Universal Music, however, who will continue to release records from Bono and his rabble.

"We've been dating for over 20 years now," said the curiously randy singer of Live Nation, who’ve been managing U2’s tours since 1980. "It's about time we tied the knot."

"U2 has created some of the greatest rock music of all time," said Live Nation chairman Michael Cohl, giggling. "It has long been our intention to consolidate and extend our relationship."

DrownedinSound has been rooting around on the internet and can’t find any rumours as to how many bags of gold Live Nation is extending in the direction of U2, but Madonna recently signed a deal worth a reported £60m over a decade.

That, though, was inclusive of record sales, so DrownedinSound's resident money man has surmised that this union should be worth a similar amount - U2, remember, tend to tour a lot more than the public transport-taunting pop bitch.