NEW WEB MUSIC SERVICE

Digital music service Lala.com today is set to formally unveil a new song streaming service that offers online ownership of tunes for 10 cents apiece and many albums for less than $1.

The three-year-old service – backed by Warner Music Group, which has invested $20 million in the company, as well as Bain Capital and Ignition Partners – is looking to bridge the gap between the buy-to-own music download model used by services like Apple’s iTunes, and the music-rental model promoted by subscription services like Rhapsody.com, a joint venture between MTV and Real Networks.

It also represents an alternative to the advertising-supported, streaming-music model promoted by new services like MySpace Music and iMeem.com.

With Lala, users can listen to every song in its catalog of more than 6 million tracks once, free of charge. For additional playbacks they purchase access to tunes for 10 cents each.

In exchange, they can collect and play songs back through an ad-free iTunes-like Web interface as many times as they want for an unlimited amount of time.

Users purchasing Web access to tunes, from such hit-making artists as Cassie, can also download songs as MP3s for an additional 79 cents to 89 cents each, with the tracks automatically added to their iTunes library for playback on an iPod. The 10-cent online access fee is credited as a down payment toward the full price of the track.

All the major record companies and 170,000 independent labels and distributors have licensed the service.