Disney has dealt a blow to EMI and its private equity owner Guy Hands' Terra Firma by awarding the contract to distribute the next Jonas Brothers album in Europe to bitter rival Universal Music.

The move is a setback for EMI as it hopes to renegotiate its foreign distribution agreement with Disney, which runs out in about a year. Disney Music Group's Hollywood Records signed up with EMI three years ago.

But several other record companies are eager to swipe more of Disney's distribution, not least because of the media company's ability to promote acts using its extensive portfolio of TV and film assets.

Universal already distributes the wildly successful High School Musical soundtrack in the US. The company had already pinched the latest Rolling Stones release, the soundtrack to Martin Scorsese's Shine A Light concert documentary, from EMI, who signed the band in 1977.

The Jonas Brothers - Nick, Joe and Kevin - are aimed squarely at the "tween" market and have been very successful in the US with adolescent girls. Their eponymously titled second album debuted at number five in the Billboard charts when it was released in the US last August and the band received a huge boost by playing live on Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve on US television at the end of December.

It has gone on to sell over a million with a further 3m digital singles sales.

The album, Jonas Brothers, will be released in Europe by Polydor Records in June and the band will support on Avril Lavigne's European tour starting May 26.