Microblogging service Twitter is expected to launch a new music service later today to coincide with the start of the massive Coachella music festival in California. The service is rumoured to come along with a standalone app. A website appeared in a minimal state (see below) which is expected to spring to life to coincide with the launch of #music.
The new music app has emerged as a result of Twitter’s acquisition of We Are Hunted last year. That music service has now shut down and on the home page a statement reads “While we are shutting down wearehunted.com, we will continue to create services that will delight you, as part of the Twitter team”. The statement continues to give a hint of the scope of Twitter’s new music service “There's no question that Twitter and music go well together. Artists turn to Twitter first to connect with fans, and people share and discover new songs and albums every day. We can't wait to share what we've been working on at Twitter.”
What the Twitter Music App is useful for
Of course we expect Twitter will be intending to make £$£s from the new music service, as music streaming becomes ever more popular and profitable, but what is in it for users? According to AllThingsD the new app “suggests artists and tracks to users based on a number of personalized signals, including the Twitter accounts a user follows on the microblogging service.” That is not all though, as third party services will work within the app; “Users will be able to listen to clips of music from inside the app, using third-party services like iTunes, Soundcloud; they will also be able to watch music videos provided by Vevo, the music video service owned by Universal Music and Sony.”
GTA radio
In other online music news today it has been announced that Rockstar Games has taken the music from GTA IV, San Andreas, Vice City, GTA III, Liberty and Vice City Stories, and Chinatown Wars and created streaming radio channels for Spotify and iTunes users to enjoy.
