BlackBerry Music, a cloud-based social music service for the mobile platform, has launched in the UK. The service allows users to select 50 songs from labels including Universal, Sony and EMI with their BBM contacts, a number that increases based on how many friends the user has.

“More than 45m customers already love the social communication benefits delivered through BBM and we are thrilled to be extending the experience into a uniquely social and interactive music service,” says Mike Lazaridis, president and co-CEO at Research in Motion (RIM). “We have partnered with leading music companies to provide a ‘full track’ music sharing and discovery experience that will provide users with quality music on demand and allow them to connect with friends on a whole new level.”

Also launching are two new handsets: the BlackBerry Bold 9790, with QWERTY and touch controls, and the BlackBerry Curve 9380, which is entirely touch-controlled. Blackberry developer RIM also announced that the number of subscribers in the UK has passed 8m, while its worldwide subscriber base has grown 40 per cent over the last year.