Computer giant Apple is expected to launch the long-awaited European version of its popular US digital download service iTunes next week.
The technology has been credited with kick-starting the record industry's fightback against piracy and falling sales and industry sources believe iTunes will launch in the UK on June 15.
Music downloading could be the salvation of the outdated Top of the Pops and other chart shows that rely on single sales or a combination of sales and radio airplay to gauge which tracks are the most popular each week.
An official download chart is expected to launch by the early autumn, seen as a precursor to digital tracks being included in the official UK top 40. Record bosses hope the move will revive the troubled singles chart.
Apple itself, notoriously secretive when it comes to announcing new products and services, has called a press conference for that date, claiming that "the biggest story in music is about to get even bigger".
In the US, iTunes has sold over 70 million tracks in the space of a year after the Apple chief executive, Steve Jobs, called on record companies to licence more of their catalogue for digital download.
He even intervened personally to ensure that punters could buy Hotel California by The Eagles, his favourite band, through the online store.
Its clear pricing structure, with all tracks costing 99 cents each, and extensive catelogue have been credited with helping wean customers away from the peer to peer download services such as Kazaa and pay for digital music.
Illegal downloading and physical piracy have been blamed by the record industry for a calamitous drop in global sales that has led to hundreds of redundancies at major labels and scores of acts being dropped.
But iTunes Europe will have to contend with more competition than when it launched in the US. On this side of the Atlantic the newly relaunched Napster has turned the tables on its competitor by beating it to market.
Downloading already a hit
Napster launched in the UK last month, selling a catalogue of 700,000 songs at 99p each.
It also offers users the option to subscribe to the service for £9.95 a month, allowing them to copy as many tracks as they like to their hard drive for the length of their subscription, although they must pay more to transfer them to CD or a portable player.
OD2, the digital download service co-founded by former Genesis frontman Peter Gabriel, also has a strong foothold in the European market.
It provides a white-label service to dozens of websites including MyCokeMusic.com, MSN and Tiscali and has sold more than one million tracks across the continent so far this year. Others planning to launch their own sites include Sony and AOL.
While iTunes has the advantage of compatibility with the hugely successful iPod digital music player, tracks downloaded from the store don't work on portable devices from other manufacturers.
Napster faced criticism when it launched for charging 99p in the UK compared with the 99 cents it charges in the US and sources say that Apple too will charge customers more on this side of the Atlantic. Early indications are that the price will be around 1.29 euros a track, which translates as around 86p.
Over half a million downloads this year
Last week, the British Phonographic Industry offered further evidence that the market for legal downloads was gathering pace when it revealed that over half a million downloads had been sold in the UK so far this year.
The figure, up from almost zero in the corresponding period last year, showed that the bestselling download in the UK to date was Coldplay track 2,000 Miles, a cover of the Pretenders song made available exclusively as a download. It narrowly beat big-selling OutKast single Hey Ya to the accolade.
While the industry has blamed piracy for the recent sales slump, others have pointed the finger at the increasingly disposable nature of chart acts, poor management, high CD prices and greater competition from other leisure sectors such as mobile phones, computer games and DVDs.
The record industry and technology companies are hoping the rise in digital downloads will spark an upturn in sales for both new and back catalogue tracks, as well as giving a boost to manufacturers of portable players.
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