A collaborative album between innovative producer Danger Mouse (one half of Gnarls Barkley) and Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse has been scrapped by their label, EMI.

Dark Night of the Soul– which features guest performances by Wayne Coyne, Iggy Pop, Gruff Rhys, Julian Casablancas and others – was due for release this summer, and was to feature an accompanying book with photography by director David Lynch. However, due to an "unspecified legal dispute" with EMI, the album will now not be released – at least not commercially.

But the pair have managed to get around the problem. Earlier this week, they announced that the limited-edition art book will be available to buy online from www.dnots-store.com. A blank recordable CD will be included with the book, with a note insinuating that fans should download the album illegally and burn it to the disc. Alternatively, a poster and blank CD-R is also available for a reduced price.

The website states: “Danger Mouse is unable to include music on the CD without fear of legal entanglement. Therefore, he has included a blank CD-R as an artifact to use however you see fit.”