Back to basics

News Corp.'s MySpace is in the early stages of launching an online music venture with the four biggest record companies.

The effort calls for the creation of what is tentatively named MySpace Music. It will be positioned (rather ambitiously) as an iTunes competitor, according to Reuters.

At heart this is an effort to distinguish MySpace — long a haven for indie music fans — from pretty-faced rival Facebook.

MySpace Music shall provide ad-supported streaming music, in addition to a store that sells songs playable on portable devices, including Apple's iPod. A subscription service may also surface.

It is unclear whether MySpace will build the store itself or enlist Amazon to build a white label version for the service.

Music companies may be given an unspecified stake MySpace Music in exchange for rights to their catalogs. News Corp. would remain the dominant shareholder.

But even without partial ownership, it may not be difficult to coax the Big Four to join forces with MySpace. Of late they have been liberal about bestowing music rights on new media contenders.

Early this month a company called MusicStation Max, which is building phones that offer unlimited music downloads, announced it had managed to sign all four major record labels.

And in January, the Big Four offered their catalogs to ad supported LastFM. They also formed formal relationships with the Amazon music store, which hopes to go international this year.

The Big Four — a moniker representing the top four major record labels — includes Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, EMI, and Warner Music Group.