BT is launching a digital music service designed to "revolutionise" the industry and give power back to artists, labels and traditional retailers at the expense of new entrants into the market such as Apple's iTunes.

The service has already tied up a deal with EMI to feature music, videos and exclusive footage from Robbie Williams, currently entertaining fans on tour in Argentina. It aims to provide record labels and bands with a "one-stop shop" for all their digital material.

BT has linked up with Blueprint, founded by technology experts and former record label executives, to launch the service.

Its Open Royalty Gateway aims to house all the digital content - from singles and albums to music videos - from labels and artists, enabling them to set their own rules about how it is to be used.

It means Williams could make a new track available to its email database of fans and online retailers. EMI could then set certain boundaries, for example allowing them to listen to it twice free, then click to buy. Consumers can also email their favourite tracks to friends. If the friend buys the track, the person who recommended it will receive a commission.

Blueprint will also work with retailers, letting them mix and match content to create their own offers and campaigns through a service called Song Centre.

Blueprint's chief executive Richard Bron said the new service amounted to a legalised version of the file-sharing phenomenon. "Retailers and rights holders can start talking to each other and doing business again outside the other electronic services in the marketplace," he added in an apparent reference to Apple's iTunes and other digital distribution businesses.