Announcing its entry into the cloud music race, Research in Motion (RIM) teamed up with Chiswick, London-based firm Omnifone to launch a new subscription music service, called BBM Music.

BBM Music will come integrated with with RIM’s BlackBerry Messenger instant messaging service. The new music service will provide tracks from all four major music labels and allow users to share them on their profiles via their BlackBerrys.

BlackBerry users can already access a music store powered by London’s 7Digital, but the new service is social in nature because it allows users to share their music with friends. The more the number of your friends using the service, the more tracks you will be able to access.

BBM Music is expected to enhance the Canadian manufacturer’s BlackBerry Messenger service, which has been facing tough competition from rival services from Facebook, Apple and others.

Each user will be able to pick fifty songs to create a personal play list, and to swap up to twenty-five songs of that list every month.

Omnifone said that the new service would overtake Spotify to become the world’s largest music subscription service by the end of next year.

Speaking on the topic, Omnifone CEO Jeff Hughes said, "By the end of next year, our platform will service, with our partners, more paying subscribers than any other digital music service on the planet."

Omnifone creates music download services for other companies, rather than marketing its services direct to end-users. Its customers include HP and Sony, whose Music Unlimited service will come pre-installed on Sony’s upcoming products, such as smartphones, games consoles, PCs and TVs over the coming years.