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Update: 6:06 p.m.: To include iLike's hopes to open a download store in the next 30 days.

Facebook's most popular music service, iLike, is in talks with the four major music labels about opening a download store, multiple sources within the music industry said Tuesday.

According to the sources, iLike is close to reaching final agreements with at least three of the top record companies. The sources did not disclose which labels are close but added that iLike is hoping to open its download store within the next month.

A spokeswoman for Seattle-based iLike said: "… Read more

We all like to share songs with friends, and we all have songs that share meaning with loved ones. Perhaps that's why there are so many music social networks out there. These sites combine both, and make music exploration and enjoyment something that you're not doing on your own.

From the well-known to the obscure, I've been exploring a variety of music social networks that you'll definitely want to check out:

Buzznet is a great way to connect with other music lovers. You can write status updates and view an activity feed that shows what your friends are listening to. You can also tell all your friends what your "song of the moment" is and post it to a profile that can be completely redesigned and themed using built-in tools.

Buzznet has some songs from major artists, but I would have liked to see more tracks. That said, the site makes up for it with music videos from YouTube. That adds a bit more value, as long as the recording quality is good..

Flotones isn't the best looking site in this roundup, but it does a nice job of connecting indie artists with fans. You can choose to sign up as either a fan or an artist. If you're an artist, you can upload music, post to a blog, give out your contact information to schedule gigs, and more. As a fan, you can find artists, follow their updates, and review their music. You can also send them private messages. Not all musicians put their music on the site, but quite a few do.… Read more

If you're not using Grooveshark to try out music on-demand before buying it, you should be. I've found no other service that offers its combination of simplicity, features, and song selection--10 million and growing, according to the organization.

Today, Grooveshark announced a couple of extensions that should increase awareness. If you're on Facebook like most of the world seems to be, Grooveshark Share Song will let you share any song in Grooveshark's database in only three steps. There are other Facebook apps that offer similar features--iLike has been offering full-song playback on Facebook since last August… Read more

Social music start-up iLike has come a long way from its early days as the way to "dedicate a song" to your friends on Facebook.

On Wednesday, the Seattle-based company plans to unveil some fresh new features for the set of tools it offers to artists who want to connect with current and potential fans. It's hooked up the application program interfaces (APIs) of Twitter, YouTube, and MySpace to allow for more extensive content syndication from artists' iLike pages, and has released an iPhone app-creation product to boost their mobile presences.

"Marketing and communication are the … Read more

The Jonas Brothers, that family of mop-topped teen pop-rockers who seem to be just about everywhere these days, are going to be debuting their new single on Facebook this Thursday.

They'll be performing the new song, "Paranoid," in the first of four Webcasts created with a Ustream app for the Facebook platform. Fans can access it by navigating to the band's Facebook fan page. The Jonas Brothers, who also were poster boys for the debut of the MySpace Music service, also will answer questions from fans and talk about their upcoming tour. That's at 5 … Read more

iLike, a social music service that has created one of the more popular applications for Facebook's platform, has changed the app's name to the more straightforward "Music."

"Over 40 million music fans like you have used iLike to share music and discover concerts, and we're grateful to you for being one of them," an e-mail sent to members who have installed the app said. "To maintain consistency with other Facebook applications, we're renaming the 'iLike' application to simply 'Music.'"

The company name hasn't changed, and it hasn't yet … Read more

We in the industry often use a little trick to eke out extra page views or to let you see more stories on a single page. Called the page break, it truncates longer articles and requires that you click another link to load up the full version of the story. We use it here quite often because our format is to put a bunch of stories (which can be quite long) on one topic-driven page--Webware, Green Tech, Crave, and so on. This can make the site take longer to load and give your scroll wheel finger quite a workout.

There'… Read more

Meebo, a Web service that lets people access instant messaging services from anywhere, announced Monday that it is launching an extension to its ad platform. Starting in the second quarter, Meebo will attempt to expand its reach across the Web by increasing the number of sites that feature integrated Meebo ads. Meebo ads will feature video, apps, games, news, quizzes, product showcases, and more. The ads will go live in the coming weeks.

AirSage, a company that turns real-time cell phone signals into traffic data for popular mapping services like Google Maps, announced that it has enhanced its traffic information … Read more

Facebook has been taking a long look at FriendFeed and likes what it sees.

The social-networking site likes FriendFeed's "Like" button so much that--as widely expected--it added its own button that allows members to apply "Like" labels to messages, photos, and other content. The feature, which appears to be getting a gradual rollout, is tucked in between the "Comment" and "Share" options.

Likening the new feature to how one might rate a restaurant, Leah Pearlman of Facebook describes in a blog posting how the "Like" button works: … Read more