MySpace to bar unauthorized used of copyrighted music

News Corp.'s MySpace.com on Monday said it had licensed a new technology to stop users from posting unauthorized copyrighted music on the social networking Web site and oust frequent violators of its policy, a Reuters report said.

The move comes amid pressure from major studios and record labels against popular online sites like MySpace and YouTube, which they accuse of infringing the copyrights of their artists' music and videos, according to the report.

MySpace, one of the most popular sites on the Internet, licensed technology from privately held Gracenote, allowing it to review music recordings uploaded by community members to their profiles, the report said.

The technology compares those filed with Gracenote's database of copyrighted material and can block uploads without proper rights.

MySpace, increasingly seen as a destination to see and hear music and video, would soon begin selling songs from nearly 3 million unsigned bands, the report said. It aimed to eventually offer copyright-protected songs from major record companies.

Once Gracenote's technology is integrated into its service, users who repeatedly try to upload unauthorized music will have their accounts deleted, the Reuters report quoted MySpace as saying.