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The tracks will be streamed to users, with revenue for the label coming from "short" adverts that play before each track begins.

Unlike the rest of We7's catalogue, Sony's tracks won't be available for download. The service has deals with a number of independent labels that allows tracks to be downloaded with a similar advert at the beginning, with DRM deleting the song from users' PCs after a month.

"We are in the business of embracing a multitude of new ways our music can reach audiences. Our deal with We7 is an important step forward in offering fans greater flexibility in how they consume music," says Ged Doherty, chairman of Sony BMG in the UK and Ireland.

The service will only be available to existing We7 users at first, from 1 April, with a full public rollout coming later.

We7

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was founded by the musician Peter Gabriel in May 2007, with only 30 tracks available to customers at launch. Since then it has expanded to license 1 million tracks from various record labels.

"The digital revolution has provided exciting and extraordinary opportunities in the music business, even though it has been largely written off by many. We7 is a model that will supply free music to the consumer and still provide a stream of revenue to musicians and content owners," says Gabriel.

We7 is one of a number of companies that have launched free music services based on an advertising revenue model. Earlier this year Qtrax announced that it had deals in place with all four major music labels. Three of those labels denied having such deals in place, however.

A similar service called SpiralFrog launched in September of 2007, offering free downloads from Universal Music, supported by advertising.

By far the largest company to attempt such a move, though, is MySpace. The social networking site was rumoured to be working on a free streaming service, and has held talks with all four major record labels.