Website in million-dollar Beatles payout

A website that posted digital copies of Beatles music a year before they became legitimately available has agreed to pay record companies nearly $1m to settle a lawsuit.

Court records in Los Angeles show the owner of the site BlueBeat.com agreed to pay $950,000 (€674,555) to settle a lawsuit filed by music companies EMI, Capitol Records and Virgin Records America.

A federal judge had previously ruled that BlueBeat infringed the labels' copyright when it sold high-quality versions of songs by the Beatles and other name acts, including Coldplay and Lily Allen, for 25 cents each.

The website posted music shortly after the release of re-mastered Beatles albums.

A trial on remaining issues is scheduled to begin tomorrow.