stop itunes from launching automatically

Been trying to search the answer but keep finding irrelevant posts. Whenever I connect bluetooth headphones or press the play/pause button itunes takes it as a cue to launch and start playing. For instance, I'll be playing something in vlc and pausing it using the play/pause button on my headphones will launch itunes and play over the top. Quite annoying really.

Can this be stopped and vlc be used instead or just stop it doing things automatically altogether?

It's probably possible to do what you want but the procedure probably varies depending upon the specific make/model of headphones involved. Which model(s) have you tried? Also which OS version and iTunes version are you running?

I'm using whatever the latest version of mavericks and itunes is. I would have thought it has nothing to do with the headphones as regardless of the model all they're doing is sending a 'play/pause' command no different to what the keyboard button does.

Is there a way of configuring how this button or command behaves?