BlackBerry maker Research In Motion has launched a beta test of its cloud-based social music service BBM Music, backed by the four major music labels.
BBM Music will feature select music from Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music and EMI.
A closed beta trial of the BBM Music service is starting on Thursday in Canada, the United States and the UK, the company said.
The music service is expected to be commercially available to customers later this year for a monthly subscription of $4.99 in a number of countries, it said.
Cloud computing is being promoted as the new generation of data, entertainment and application storage, with users storing data not on computers or on local servers but in a “cloud” maintained by servers that may be in several locations.