As an audio professional working daily in the trenches of the Nashville music scene, I would like to comment on a few things.
1. 10 million (dollars, euros, pesos) is not an extraordinary figure to through out. It has been estimated that artists of Jewel's caliber (mid to upper level, but not on the scale of U2) have lost anywhere from 5 to 15 million album sales due to internet piracy. I would also not forget that millions of dollars, euros, pesos, have been invested in the recording (and there are a million aspects outside of the actual guitar/bass/drums/vocals going to tape in the studio that cost TONS of money over a 4 year period) and those are only recoupable to Universal by unit sales.
2. To call record execs selfish (i cannot remember the actual terminology used) and greedy is an easy classification but not altogether acurate. For those who have been under a rock for the last five years, there is not much of a music business left. In case you were unaware, there are 5 (five...count em) major record labels in the world. There used to be hundreds. In the last 5 years in Nashville alone, there have been 175 for sale/rent signs posted along the famous "Music Row". The music industry as we know it is dead. It may rise again, but there is not a lot of jet setting exec's flying Paris Hilton around anymore. Yes, magnates still exist, but this is not your daddy's music business.
3. 1 in 20 albums released by the 5 major labels makes money. U2 is the cash cow that Universal has been waiting for for years. In a summer of extremely slow concert sales, U2 cannot come quick enough for Universal.
4. I really wish the Red Sox would get a first baseman.