Already known as a potential hot spot for unsigned bands to get their music out to the masses, the social networking giant MySpace just recently announced their intentions of highlighting this aspect of the site even more. Unsigned bands and artists will now be allowed to sell their tracks on the site as downloads, in an effort to create an alternative iTunes, something wanted by many music fans.

MySpace’s 106 million users are already allowed to browse bands’ sites and listen to their music via the music player, and this has been instrumental in boosting the popularity of many acts. Indie rockers Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, for instance, were never even signed to a label before blowing up as one of the best indie bands of last year. The Internet, and MySpace in particular, has been cited as being one of the chief reasons this was even possible.

How much impact this will have on the industry as we know it remains to be seen, but it looks as though this is another step in the process of antiquating labels and distributors and putting music back into the hands of fans and artists.