Rock stars may have to rein in their taste for loud music after a fan overheard U2 frontman Bono listening to tracks from the group's forthcoming album and recorded them before posting the songs on the Internet.

The fan heard the music blaring out of the Irish rocker's holiday home in the south of France, recorded it on his mobile phone and posted four tracks on video-sharing website YouTube, newspapers and music websites reported.

The previously unheard songs had now been removed from the website for copyright reasons but continuned to circulate via email, the Irish Independent newspaper said.

Nobody at U2's record label could immediately be reached for comment on the reports.

The quality of the recording was said to be poor, with the noise of waves and seagulls audible in the background.