MUMBAI: More than after a year of its launch in US, music site MySpace has now entered the UK market.

The major recording companies' joint venture with News Corp. unit MySpace rolls out Thursday in the social networking site's largest overseas market and its third country outside the U.S. MySpace Music launched in Australia and New Zealand in October after its U.S. debut in September 2008.

The site, which helped launch the careers of Lily Allen and Kate Nash, claims it has "the most comprehensive catalogue" on the internet.

Teaming up with Apple iTunes it will enable DRM-free MP3 downloading and will offer free streaming access to entire back catalogues of artists on both major and independent labels, competing directly with straeming sites like Spotify and Last FM.

MySpace Music, which has 13 million UK accounts, is known as a platform for up-and-coming bands.

Like Spotify, there will be occasional adverts on-screen, or users have the option of paying a subscription fee in order to stream music without adverts. U.K. audiences, which have been limited to 30-second song streams, will now be able to listen to full-length songs, watch music videos and share playlists for free. Artists will have access to detailed visitor data.

Song royalties are paid for by advertising. The venture will also earn a small fee when listeners click through to buy songs from Apple's iTunes store.