Music majors wary of Apple's online dominance

Music labels are dragging their feet in licensing their songs to Apple Computer because they fear its long-promised European music download site will dominate the online business, industry insiders say.

The five main record labels are understood to be scared that Apple, which makes the iPod digital music player, will become as successful in Europe as it has in the US, where it has 70 per cent of the legal download business. That could let it dictate which stars or records succeed or fail by deciding which to promote on its site.

"The big fear is that Apple will become like an online MTV - where the record labels gave away their content, in the form of videos, without getting control of it," a source familiar with the issues told The Independent. "The older record executives don't want that again, where they're over a barrel with one big provider."

Apple declines to comment on the apparent delay to the European launch of its iTunes store but its chief executive, Steve Jobs, said last week that a European version would arrive "this year".