LONDON (Reuters) - British rock star David Bowie is poised to make history by allowing music fans to digitally download his new album via the Internet from any participating retailer, a public relations company said Monday.

Bowie's release will be the first time in popular music history that a complete album will be available for downloading from the Internet, The Outside Organization public relations company said.

"I couldn't be more pleased to have the opportunity of moving the music industry closer to the process of making digital download available as the norm and not the exception,'' Bowie said in a statement.

This will be the first of Bowie's albums to be handled by Virgin Music Group.

Bowie and Virgin records will make songs from his new album, ''hours,'' available from the Internet Tuesday, Sept. 21. The album will also be available at the start of October in traditional formats, the statement said.

"Although this process is not indicative of how Virgin will conduct business in the future, we are excited to be pioneering this development,'' said Virgin Worldwide Vice Chairman Nancy Berry.