News Corp's MySpace, the world's largest social networking site, on Wednesday unveiled a long-expected joint venture with all four major music companies in a bid to compete with Apple Inc's market-leading iTunes store.

MySpace Music is designed to win fans with a mix of unlimited free music, comprehensive music catalogs, concert tickets, merchandising and other entertainment features.

The launch of the new service had been dogged by speculation on the start date and the ongoing search for a chief executive.

But the biggest challenge for the new venture was signing a deal with the fourth-largest music company EMI Music, which had held out until just hours before the announcement of the service's launch.

MySpace Music also signed late licensing deals with The Orchard, a large distributor of independent music from hundreds of small labels and music publisher Sony/ATV, a joint venture between Sony Corp and pop star Michael Jackson.

In April, MySpace confirmed it agreed to create a joint venture with Vivendi's Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group

The majors agreed to take small equity stakes in the new business at a ratio which approximately reflects their respective market shares. This would mean Universal would have the largest stake and EMI the smallest.

The labels, who are struggling with shrinking recorded-music sales, are keen to benefit from the overall diversified revenues of MySpace Music -- making money from premium advertising, music download sales via Amazon.com, ringtones and eventually concert tickets and merchandising.

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