MUMBAI: News Corp is looking to rival the success Apple has had with its online iTunes music store. The US media conglomerate is said to be looking to use its social networking site MySpace will let bands sell songs straight to fans.

Media reports state by the end of the year, MySpace plans to allow bands that have yet to sign contracts with record labels to sell music on the site. The service will be managed by Snocap, a digital licensing company started by Napster founder Shawn Fanning.

Artists can choose the tracks they want to sell, set the price for those tracks, and protect them with finger-printing technology. Bands upload music to Snocap's registry. Snocap checks it against a digital database to make sure that it's original and not, say, a copy of Madonna's Like a Prayer, and then feeds musicians a string of code that can be placed anywhere within a MySpace profile. The digital storefronts will be available to all MySpace users by yearend.

Unlike iTunes, where all tracks are 99 cents, musicians set their own prices. MySpace and Snocap say that they will take a cut just large enough to cover the costs of the materials. The artists will get most of the money.