MySpace in online music venture talks

MySpace, the top social networking site owned by News Corp., is in talks to create an online music joint venture with the four biggest record companies, sources familiar with the discussion said Wednesday.

The talks are part of Rupert Murdoch’s plans to distinguish MySpace, a haven for new music fans, from fast-moving rival Facebook as the premier destination for digital media.

Plans for the service, tentatively named MySpace Music, are still in the discussion phase. One source familiar with the matter said MySpace has held talks with companies over the last few weeks to gauge interest in such a service, which would compete with Apple Inc.’s popular iTunes.

MySpace, Warner Music Group, Universal Music Group, EMI Group and Sony BMG declined to comment. Amazon.com Inc. was not immediately reachable.

MySpace’s audience is big, about 68.6 million unique U.S. visitors in January, according to ComScore Inc.