MSN in music talks with MySpace

AllThingsD said the talks were preliminary and it was not clear what the financial terms would be in any tie-up between MSN and MySpace.

Microsoft's MSN is in talks with MySpace about using the social network’s MySpace Music to help power music offerings on the software giant's online portal, technology blog AllThingsD said Tuesday.

AllThingsD said the talks were preliminary and it was not clear what the financial terms would be in any tie-up between MSN and MySpace.

It said an agreement could include licensing of content and other services related to music, where MySpace has made a heavy push in a bid to differentiate itself from rival Facebook.

Microsoft has its own music site, MSN Music, but it draws less traffic than other music sites, according to AllThingsD, which is owned by Dow Jones, the publisher of The Wall Street Journal.

News Corp. owns Dow Jones and also owns MySpace.

According to figures from comScore cited by AllThingsD, AOL Music attracted 27.4 million unique monthly visitors in April followed by MySpace Music. MSN Music was sixth with just 7.4 million unique monthly visitors.