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It will lower the prices it charges for music on its UK iTunes Store to match the already standardised pricing on iTunes across other EU member states.

Apple added that because it must pay some record labels more to distribute their music in the UK than it pays them to distribute the same music elsewhere in Europe, it will reconsider its relationship in the UK with any label that does not lower its wholesale prices in the UK to the pan-European level within six months.

"This is an important step towards a pan-European marketplace for music," says Steve Jobs, Apple's chief executive. "We hope every major record label will take a pan-European view of pricing."

Currently Apple charges 79p for a single track download and £7.99 for a standard album, which at current rate equates to €1.06 and €10.72, slightly higher than the €0.99 and €9.99 prices it charges in the rest of the EU.