The portal, which is in development by the corporation's commercial arm, BBC Worldwide, would rival sites such as iTunes and Play.com, although the content available would be from the BBC's recordings rather than artistes' original studio recordings.
The site, which could launch later this year, will carry radio and television recordings from iconic BBC shows such as the Peel Sessions, Later and The Old Grey Whistle Test.
News of the music portal comes as BBC Worldwide announced a deal with EMI, which unlocks archive footage of the label's artistes, giving both parties commercial access to the content.
A BBC Worldwide spokesman said: "We now have the rights to distribute [BBC content featuring EMI artistes] - for instance, if it gets the go-ahead, we'd have the rights to distribute content on Kangaroo.
"But aside from Kangaroo, we are looking to build a specific direct-to-consumer website that would allow us to offer free and paid for content. There are potentially advertising opportunities there."
The deal with EMI releases BBC recordings of artistes and bands such as Pink Floyd, Coldplay and David Bowie. It gives the record company access to archive footage of acts previously locked away in the BBC's library and makes EMI the first record company able to repackage BBC recordings of its artistes on CD, DVD and via digital download.
The agreement gives the BBC the rights to use its recordings of EMI artistes to make programmes, transmit footage and sell content to third parties.
"For a long time, the archive footage has remained dormant. This deal allows us to mine the archive," the spokesman said. "Now it is open for EMI and ourselves to release it commercially."
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