EMI's exercise in songwriting.

EMI Music Publishing has worked up a deal with Nike for some of its UK songwriters to create original music for consumers to exercise to.

Simian Mobile Disco, Jackson and Skream are among the publisher's first writers to take up the challenge for the newly-launched Nike...Sport Music programme, which involves them coming up with 30-minute compositions for runners to listen to as they work out.

The first such piece being made available for the programme, Simian Mobile Disco's Run, goes on sale today (Monday) on iTunes with all the tracks being released under the deal retailing at #4.99. Music by other artists involved will appear over the next six months.

EMI Music Publishing vice president of A&R and creative exploitation Austin Wilde, who brokered the deal with Nike's Kerry Shaw and Simon Pestridge, says the link-up followed the publisher's signings LCD Soundsystem creating a 45-minute track for Nike three years ago called 45:33 to accompany a workout.

"It was very limited in terms of promotion and its availability," says Wilde. "It became a thing of folklore and sold on iTunes and had a very limited vinyl run."

The LCD Soundsystem piece has now spawned the Nike...Sport Music programme in which EMI-signed writers must come up with a half-an-hour piece of music that can be used for a 30-minute warm-up, workout and warm-down. The aim is for the music to set the pace ...