EMI strikes deal to sell music over the internet

EMI, the music group that is home to artists such as Robbie Williams and Coldplay, has struck a deal with more than 20 online retailers to offer digital downloads of its songs.

The move covers more than 140,000 tracks from over 3,000 EMI artists and represents the latest in the music industry's attempts to tackle the piracy problems that have plagued the major labels in recent years. However, not all EMI artists have agreed to participate, with The Beatles' huge back catalogue being the most notable absentee. It is understood that EMI has so far been unable to strike an agreement with the band's surviving members and the representatives of John Lennon and George Harrison.

EMI's scheme will enable consumers to burn tracks on to CD-Roms, copy tracks to portable music players and buy singles online when songs are released to radio stations, before they arrive in stores.

Retailers involved in the Europe-wide scheme include HMV, Freeserve and MSN. EMI says the downloads take up half the disc space of a typical MP3 file with better sound.

Prices will be controlled by the retailers rather than EMI but it is anticipated that it will cost 80p to £1 to download a single and £9 to £10 for an album. This is more expensive than EMI's equivalent service in the United States which costs $1 a track. EMI would not comment on whether it would make larger margins from the online sales as it will not have to manufacture the CDs and their cases.

There are various measures to prevent consumers paying once for songs and then distributing them free. Buyers can only download or burn material three times before it is corrupted. According to Jay Samit, president of digital distribution at EMI in Los Angeles, special technology called Digital Rights Management enables EMI to "disable" tracks. However, he admitted EMI had no control over people who choose to burn songs on to a CD and give copies away. "We're relying on people's integrity for that."

Tony Wadsworth, the chairman and chief executive of EMI recorded music, said: "This is a significant initiative because it brings many new features to the online offering. EMI has a vast digital catalogue and is now providing consumers with the music they want in a way that is faster, safer and more adaptable than is currently available on any of the current services – and legal."

Artists featured includes Norah Jones, The Vines and Kylie Minogue as well as back catalogues from The Beach Boys, David Bowie, Duran Duran and Deep Purple. Alan Giles, the chief executive of HMV, said: "This is a step in the right direction with a more flexible pricing and usage model. It is not going to be a significant part of the market for a while. We are all in experimenting mode here."