Apple iTunes drums up indie support

Leading indie record labels are expected to score a deal with Apple's iTunes music download site by the end of the week.

The agreement will give music lovers access to new tracks from key independent artists including Travis, Franz Ferdinand, The White Stripes and The Strokes.

The bands' labels failed to agree terms before iTunes launch last month, unhappy that Apple was trying to lock them into three-year fixed price deals with no option to review prices regardless of whether iTunes increased the retail cost.

The Association of Independent Music (AIM) hopes that the revised proposals will provide the template for a standard contract for other independent artists, ensuring that they receive the same benefits as those received by major recording labels.

"Apple is in talks with the indie labels and it looks like they are hoping to sign a deal within days," said an AIM spokesman.

"But a deal will not be signed unless it addresses the concerns that arose a month ago. Also the prices offered were lower than those some of the major labels were receiving.

"But we are quite close and hope that a standard indie deal will emerge from this which will help all indie artists."

Apple will welcome the new deal as it is looking to add the European independent record sector, which commands 22 per cent of the music market, to its iTune library of 700,000 songs, 5,000 audio books and soundtracks from all Disney and Pixar films.