Napster, the former scourge of the record industry which was recently reborn in the US as a legal download site, has appointed its first European executive ahead of its launch on this side of the Atlantic.

Record company bosses are banking on the European launches of Napster and Apple's iTunes, together with a series of new legal download services from the likes of Sony and Coca-Cola, to help reverse falling single sales and discourage the use of illegal filesharing sites.

Leanne Sharman, the former head of sales and marketing at Vivendi Universal's now defunct download site MP3.com, has been appointed vice-president of business development at Napster and will spearhead the company's European development.

Napster was relaunched as a legitimate business in October last year after software company Roxio bought the bankrupt outfit.

The filesharing service was crippled by its legal fight with the record industry, despite being bailed out by German media giant Bertelsmann. Roxio bought the name and rights to the company, and brought back whizzkid founder Shawn Fanning as a consultant.

Ms Sharman lost her job at MP3.com when crisis-hit Vivendi Universal closed the European arm of the company in an attempt to cut its debts. She will report to Brad Duea, Napster's worldwide head of business development.

"Since relaunching Napster in the US at the end of October we have achieved tremendous market impact and awareness as a legal online music service among both consumers and the business community," said Mr Duea.

"We're delighted Leanne has joined us at this time as we look to further develop the business outside the US. She already has a proven track record in establishing a successful online music business and her background in European sales and marketing leaves her well placed as our person on the ground in Europe," he added.

Napster, which was used by 60 million people a day at the peak of its illegal incarnation and is now selling some 300,000 tracks a week at 99 cents each, has refused to confirm its European launch date, but industry insiders expect it to be some time in April.

As well as the pay-per-track option, Napster 2.0 is also providing a monthly subscription service which allows users unlimited downloads and online streaming of its catalogue of more than 500,000 songs.

In an effort to replicate the community atmosphere of the original Napster, the site also features an irreverent online music magazine, interactive radio stations, music videos and email and chat options.

Buoyed by the success of its iPod music player over Christmas, Apple is also expected to launch its popular iTunes download service in the UK before Easter.

· To contact the MediaGuardian newsdesk email editor@mediatheguardian.com or phone 020 7239 9857

· If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".