Facebook to launch music service at f8

Social networking site Facebook will launch its long-rumored music service at its annual developer conference f8 this year, according to a report by CNBC.

Facebook will not actually host its own music but will partner with other services to stream the music, people familiar with the matter told CNBC’s Jon Fortt. That could bypass a lot of the legal hoops music streaming companies have to jump through and make it easier for Facebook to get the service off the ground quickly.

Facebook has scheduled its f8 conference for Sept. 22 in San Francisco. The all-day event is where the company’s engineers and product teams will highlight “new tools along with best practices for developers and partners building the next generation of social practices.”

The conference is late this year, but it is likely tied to the company’s schedule for big upgrades. Facebook last held its f8 conference on April 21, 2010. At that event, it introduced a number of new features, and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg delivered a keynote speech in which he introduced the Like button and talked about Facebook Credits.

VentureBeat has contacted Facebook for additional details.