Orange is launching a new mobile music service aimed squarely at the youth market. It will give pre-pay customers unlimited access to tracks from Universal Music's extensive catalogue and let them play them on any mobile phone.

If users top up their talk time by at least £10 a month, the new Orange Monkey tariff will also give them free access to a website on which they can set up playlists, share tracks with friends and access exclusive content including secret gigs from Universal acts such as Lady Gaga, Girls Aloud and La Roux.

Orange will send users free offers and promotions based on their tastes, using the technical expertise recently acquired through its partnership with the mobile advertising specialist Blyk. Monkey is also backed by Channel 4, which is planning to relaunch its 4Music brand in September to tie in with the new mobile service.

Orange UK's head of Pay As You Go, Pippa Dunn, said anyone could join the new tariff but it was designed to lure 16 to 24-year-olds away from illegal online file-sharing. "We wanted to find a legal way for them to get free music but ensure that the artists get paid for their work," she said.

Unlike other mobile music services, which rely on expensive handsets and downloads over a wireless network or via a computer, Monkey users merely dial 247 to start listening to playlists compiled by 4Music's experts streamed over their mobile phone connection. Customers can keep their old phone and just switch to the Monkey SIM-only deal.

"It will work on any mobile phone, it could even be a £9.99 handset," said Dunn. Orange hopes the service will give it a boost in the pre-pay market, where the network has about 9.5 million customers.