Facebook has partnered with Lala to allow users to purchase tracks for listening on the internet and to download.
The gift shop will offer over eight million songs from a diverse range of classical and contemporary musicians. Other new additions to the shop include branded sports merchandise and charity gifts.
Users must purchase credits with their credit card to buy items in the shop, which already sells virtual items such as birthday cakes, pints of beer and pets, but Facebook does not expect the new service to become a huge revenue earner.
"Some revenue is generated from the gift shop, but advertising is still our core business and we are focused on growing that," said a Facebook spokesman.
Songs can be played from the news feed or via lala.com through Facebook Connect.
Facebook's announcement comes as Google prepares to launch its own music search service, which is expected to provide photos, biographical information and the option to stream preview clips and full tracks when users search for a band on Google.
Meanwhile, MySpace is fighting back by offering artists and labels an Artist Dashboard, to help them track the performance of their content. It has also launched MySpace Music Videos.
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