Apple to host indie music party

Apple Computer is throwing a party for independent record labels Thursday in its Cupertino, Calif., headquarters. The Mac maker hopes the party will result in licensing deals to expand the library of songs for sale at its iTunes digital music store.

Since its launch in April, the iTunes Music Store has sold 3 million songs, according to Apple. The company has licensing agreements with the top five record labels--Warner Music Group, Universal Music Group, BMG Entertainment, EMI Recorded Music and Sony Music--that enable it to offer a library of more than 200,000 songs. Songs cost 99 cents to download and may be transferred to an iPod device or burned onto a CD.