The Financial Times has reported that social networking site Facebook approached major labels and hed meetings about launching a music service. The talks, which involved Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group, and EMI Group, were characterized as preliminary and speculation was minimal as to what presence, if any, the record companies eventually will have on the website. Third party applications such as iLike currently offer links to music purchases on Facebook, but it seems that the website and the music companies might be interested in removing the middle man and dealing directly with the consumers. The same labels have also recently held talks with MySpace, Facebook’s main rival in online social networking. [Reuters]
