Apple has debuted “iTunes Pass” in the company’s iTunes Store.

Now you can get new and exclusive music from your favorite artists deliverd as soon as it’s available with the purchase of an iTunes Pass. Our first iTunes Pass includes the new album form alternative/dance pioneers Depeche Mode, Sounds of the Universe, as well as extended singles, remixes, videos, and more which will be released over the next few months. Buy the pass now, and you’ll get the blazing new single “Wrong” as well as the Black Odyssey club remix of the new track “Oh Well” before the rest of the album becomes available.

More info via Apple’s iTunes Store: Depeche Mode’s “Sounds of the Universe iTunes Pass” (US$18.99).

Distorted-Loop’s Jonny Evans has more details here.

MacDailyNews Take: Sounds like a potential bundling scheme to us. We have to wonder if the music cartels pushed this on Apple, perhaps as part of the negotiations that resulted in Apple being allowed to offer the entire iTunes Store music library DRM-free.

[Attribution: Distorted-Loop. Thanks to MacDailyNews reader "Fred Mertz" for the heads up.]