October 21, 2009

By By Yinka Adegoke, Reuters

Google Inc is partnering with major music labels to launch a new feature to make it easier for music fans to discover, sample and buy songs on the search engine, according to two people familiar with the plan.

The new feature will be facilitated by start-ups iLike and LaLa, which will enable songs to be streamed on the Google page that will also feature a "buy" button to help reduce the number of steps fans need to acquire music.

The new service has been lined up to launch next Wednesday by iLike and LaLa and all the major labels -- including Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and EMI Music -- will be involved in the launch.

ILike was recently acquired by News Corp's social networking site MySpace.

The news was first reported by technology blog TechCrunch. (Reporting by Yinka Adegoke, editing by Maureen Bavdek)

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