Music service Napster has entered into a promotional deal with TVT Records which permits users to download songs from the record company. In what might've otherwise been a simple business deal, the partnership may help the legally embattled Napster retain users if its popular something-for-nothing service shrinks dramatically.

The promotion follows several months of hotly contested legal disputes between the Recording Industry of America (RIA), a body that represents the music industry, and Napster. The record industry has alleged that Napster allows shoplifting on its peer to peer (P2P) music swapping site.

The companies said the first slate of promotions would include female hip-hop trio Doggy's Angels, heavy metal band Nothingface and the soundtrack to the film Snatch.

Last Friday TVT Records and Napster launched a promotion for the soundtrack album Snatch, which highlights an unreleased remix of the track "Diamond," from European techno music group Klint. The song will receive placement in Napster's new featured music program.

On Friday the RIA, provided a list of 135,000 songs that it claims are illegally traded over the Redwood, California-based site. Napster has until the end of Monday to prove to the court and the record industry that it is effectively blocking songs.

Also last week U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel issued a preliminary injunction against Napster, which said the P2P site must delete copyrighted files from its system.

The list of songs scheduled for exit were compiled by BMG, Warner, EMI, Universal and Sony, the record labels which banded together to sue Napster for copyright violation in December 1999.

Napster CEO Hank Barry has argued that the Napster community uses the P2P service to sample new music and that users would, in fact, purchase rather than illegally attempt to download music from the site.

The company intends to charge users monthly subscription rates that have yet to be announced.