Facebook ‘to rival Apple’s iTunes with free online music service’

In a move that could put it in direct competition with Apple’s iTunes, Facebook is planning to debut its own free online music service this month.

The music platform is expected to be unveiled at Facebook’s developer conference, which kicks off on September 22 in San Francisco, reports the Daily Mail.

The new service will allow 750 million users to access millions of songs instantly via the site, without having to install special software on their PCs.

It also seems highly likely that at least some of the music available via the site will be entirely free - and that users will be able to buy music via the site, a move that pitches Facebook head-on against Apple's iTunes.

“Many of the most popular music services around the world are integrated with Facebook, and we’re constantly talking to our partners about ways to improve this,” said a Facebook spokesman, although the company declined to provide further details of any upcoming services.

It’s thought that one of the likeliest candidates to partner with Facebook is Spotify, a Swedish music service used by 10 million people worldwide, and highly popular in the UK.

Currently, Spotify offers a library of 15 million songs free - and is seen as a serious challenger to Apple’s iTunes.