Apple to sell music through social networking

The Financial Times is reporting that users of the social networking site Bebo will soon be able to click through to Apple’s iTunes store, via links in the profiles of musicians. This could serve as a way of selling more music from the 500,000 or so musicians currently signed up on Bebo.

In addition, Bebo will be offering a free music download every week (similar to the iTunes’ Single of the Week promotion), to highlight new artists and releases. The first free single will be “Youth of Today” by Amy Macdonald from the Mercury Music Group.

This is certainly a great move for Apple because it will help reach more of the 16 – 24 year-old users, encouraging legal music downloads. The initiative will be available only to Bebo users in the UK and Ireland, but will expand worldwide if it proves successful.

via [Financial Times]