The three new stores will offer single downloads for a price of
€0.99, or £0.79 in the UK, and a catalogue of over 700,000 songs
for PC or Mac users to choose from.
According to Apple, users will be able to play songs on up to
five personal computers, burn a single song onto CDs an unlimited
number of times, burn the same playlist up to seven times and
listen to their music on an unlimited number of iPods.
The US iTunes store launched at the end of April last year and
quickly became the most successful fee-based service to date for
authorised music downloads. The company sold one million downloads
in its first week, and to date has sold more than 85 million
songs.
Apple expects an EU-wide version of the store to open in
October.
Peter Jamieson, chairman of the British Phonographic Industry,
welcomed the announcement: "It's great news for the UK music
industry, but it's even better news for UK music fans. Music fans
now have the chance to sample, share, download and burn without
breaking the law and taking the risks presented by illegal
peer-to-peer file sharing."
But Apple's launch was marred by news that it has been unable to
sign some independent labels, which account for up to 25% of all
record sales in the UK.
The Association of Independent Music (AIM) yesterday announced
that it had called a halt to negotiations with Apple, with the
result that artists such as Franz Ferdinand, Craig David and So
Solid Crew will not be available via iTunes, according to
reports.
"We welcome the arrival of iTunes in the UK, but are
disappointed that our members have been unable to agree terms for
licensing their repertoire to the service," AIM's chief executive
Alison Wenham told BBC Online.
Simon Wheeler, spokesman for the Beggars Group – which acts for
labels with bands such as White Stripes and the Pixies on their
books – told BBC Online: "It is the general terms. They came in
very late in the day. We are being dictated what the terms will be
for the next three years of a very young business."
Napster launched its equivalent service in the UK last
month.
