Targeting 16- to 24-year-olds, it will allow customers to create playlists and share them on social networking sites and play them on any mobile handset from 30 July.

The tie-up with Universal Music will give users access to hundreds of thousands of songs by artists including Take That, Lady Gaga, Girls Aloud, Duffy, Mika and Amy Winehouse.

Orange Pay As You Go director Pippa Dunn says it aims to position Monkey as a “club” rather than just a free music service.

Monkey also offers free texts, while Universal Music will provide exclusive music and pre-release tracks. Other original content on the Monkey website will be artist reviews and competitions.

Channel 4’s music channel 4Music will use traditional advertising and integrated editorial content in its programming to promote the Monkey service.

All three partners plan to launch major marketing campaigns to promote Monkey. Orange is launching a campaign created by its agencies Fallon and Poke in early September, encompassing television, press, outdoor, online and experiential activity.

Orange also plans to give brands an opportunity to target Monkey customers with direct-to-mobile offers after a deal with Blyk, the ad-funded mobile network.