Pop acts Moby, Tom Jones and Stereophonics are among artists whose music will soon be available on Internet service Napster after a groundbreaking deal for independent labels was unveiled today.
Music fans will be able to officially download tracks when a subscription scheme kicks off this summer, which could be extended to merchandising.
Around 150 UK indie labels have signed up to the scheme which took five months to thrash out.
It will mean payments for labels and artists. And label bosses say it will give them access to more music fans, who will be able to use Napster as a "try before you buy" scheme.
Napster allows people around the world to share music - stored on computers as MP3 files for free by allowing them access to each other's computers.
The company is at the centre of a legal battle in the US because it bypasses the traditional methods through which artists and labels get royalty payments.
Now the independent companies - who do not have the financial clout of multi-national major labels to pursue the matter through courts - have struck a deal which allows their catalogues to be licensed on the system.
Hank Barry, chief executive of Napster, said today that all file-sharing would have to recognise what the users wanted.
"And what the users want is that the artists get paid," he said.
"Not only are they wanting to pay for it, they're demanding to pay for it."
More than 2,000 companies in Europe represented by AIM and the Independent Music Companies Association (IMPALA) are expected to sign up eventually.
PA