Aim and Impala set to gain from Napster licensing deal.

Aim and Impala are expected to receive up to $10m (7m [pounds sterling]) over the next three years following their ground-breaking licensing deal with US file-sharing company Napster.

More than 150 labels including Mushroom, The Beggars Group, Gut and V2 have already signed up to be included in the opt-in Aim agreement, with Telstar among those understood to be close to signing up. The deal -- which runs for a term of three years -- will give Aim a majority share of gross revenue, according to sources close to the negotiations.

Napster CEO Hank Barry -- who flew over with 20-year-old Napster creator Shawn Fanning to announce the deal at Aim's AGM at Chelsea Football Club last week -- says the licence applies to "tethered" down loads (songs which are downloaded by Napster subscribers on to PCs only).

An independent auditor will handle administration for the deal while the potentially disruptive issue of distributing publishing royalties is to be taken on by Napster.

Aim CEO Alison Wenham, who wins a place on the Napster board as part of the deal, says the agreement represents the first significant pan-European licensing deal secured for independent labels. "Aim and Impala are neither culturally or economically attuned to long open-ended litigation, but we do live on our rights and the need to access the consumer, ...