Google To Launch Music Service

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA LOS ANGELES — Google will launch music search pages next week that will come with the ability to purchase songs for download.

That's according to people familiar with the matter. They spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they aren't authorized to speak publicly about the deal before next Wednesday's announcement.

The people say the package is similar to how companies get individual pages for Google Inc.'s financial news service. The music page will package a musician's or band's image, artwork, news and song previews, along with a way to buy songs.

Song previews and sales come from Lala and iLike, a music recommendation application bought by News Corp.'s MySpace this month.

One person told the AP that major recording companies pitched the idea to Google a year ago