- Music
- 07 Sep 06
MySpace is preparing to launch an MP3 service which will rival existing downloading sites like iTunes and Napster.
The community site is set to announce a partnership with Snocap, the company headed by Napster founder Shawn Fanning.
The partnership will allow fans to download MP3s from a band's MySpace page. This means the songs are in the correct format for file-sharing and so is likely to prove more of an attraction than iTunes, which restricts how they can be used.
Also unlike iTunes where there's a standard 99c charge, the price for the songs will be set by bands themselves.
The service is currently being trialled by the aptly-named US band The Format, who are making their songs available for 79c each.
An undisclosed cut of the sales revenue will go to MySpace and Snocap, who expect that the service will initially be used by independent rock bands, although they hope to sign up mainstream artists in the future.
MySpace, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, has more than 100 million users and almost 3 million artist profiles.