Sir Paul McCartney is dumping the record label he has used for 43 years in a move which will prevent Heather Mills from earning millions from his future recordings.

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The former Beatle is turning his back on Capital/EMI - who he has been with since the Beatles's first album in 1964 - and is penning a deal with a new label run by coffee makers Starbucks.

In recent months, Sir Paul has been offered a £25 million advance for his next four albums from Capital/EMI.

Being an advance which is payable immediately, Heather would have been able to stake a claim to half of it as part of their ongoing divorce.

Industry sources claim that point was pivotal in Sir Paul's decision to let the deal lapse and refuse to renegotiate with the label so that Heather would not have access to the earnings.

The pair are battling it out for McCartney's £825 million fortune after splitting last May.

The new record deal emerged as Heather spoke publicly to rubbish reports at the weekend that they were close to coming to a divorce settlement.

Miss Mills gave a statement to US show Entertainment Tonight, saying stories about a settlement had been "made-up".

Reports at the weekend claimed Mills would drop her demand for sole custody of their daughter Beatrice in exchange for the staggering payout, which reportedly also included McCartney's mansion in London.

In fact, a settlement is many months off, although Miss Mills has in recent days won a number of keys victories in court.

Sir Paul was previously rumoured to have shelved plans to tour while still married to Heather, so that she would not take any of the proceeds from playing live.

Signing the new deal with Starbucks will also save him some £12.5 million - a half share - of the advance Capital/EMI would have paid out for a four-album deal.

Sir Paul is now set to release his new album this autumn with Starbucks. He will be the first artist to sign with US-based coffee chain's new Hear Music record label.

A source claimed record executives at Capitol were devastated by the news.

"They knew it was coming," the source said. "They did nothing for the Chaos album, and they were reminded that McCartney's entire contract was ending."

Sir Paul's departure is especially fascinating because ever since the Beatles joined Capitol, all their albums and all their solo albums have come from the label.

Capitol's association with the group since they broke up in 1970 has always been key to the organisation.

Sir Paul's Wings albums were with the label, as was John Lennon's Imagine, George Harrison's All Things Must Pass and Ringo Starr's Ringo! Even Sean Lennon has released a Capitol album.

But all that may change now that McCartney has flown the coop, according to record industry experts.

"Starbucks has proven to be a much more effective seller of CDs and DVDs than record stores, thanks to their amazing retailing and branding," an industry source said.

"Starbucks customers have come to regard non-coffee product merchandise as hip and attractive, while record companies have been unable to reach customers at all in recent years."