Research In Motion is launching a music service, targeting users of its BlackBerry Messenger service popular among young people. BBM Music is a cloud-based, social music service that allows users to pick up to 50 tracks a month to listen to on their BlackBerry, also in offline mode. The list can be refreshed by swapping out up to 25 songs each month. In addition, users can access music on the profile of friends who agree to share their tracks. Friends can comment on each others' songs, and also create and share playlists from their own and friends' music collections. Run from the BBM Music app, the service includes a visual timeline that shows the recent updates of all friends, including who added new friends, which songs were added or removed, which playlists were created and what comments were made by BBM Music friends. The BBM Music service is powered by Omnifone, which handles content management, music hosting and reporting functions. The major labels Sony Music, EMI, Warner Music and Universal have agreed to provide tracks for the service. The service will start as a closed beta trial in Canada, the US and the UK. The BBM Music service is expected to be commercially available later this year for a monthly subscription of USD 4.99 in Australia, Canada, Columbia, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Thailand, Turkey, UAE, the UK and the US.
