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(Image source: Twitter)
BY KATIE BRENNAN
Twitter #music hit the web and the app store Thursday. The launch was announced on ABC’s
Good Morning America.
“World exclusive reveal for you on GMA this morning. Twitter is officially unveiling a
music discovery app today... The app will change the way so many people discover music,
giving you several ways to find songs based off twitter activity.”
The app uses data from your Twitter account to pick the best possible songs for you, but
you won’t have to leave the app to listen; the app grabs music from Rdio, Spotify and
iTunes.
TechCrunch suggests the GMA launch means Twitter is aiming straight for the mainstream. “GMA
reaches a huge audience every morning, and Rdio and Spotify have some of the biggest
followings in the music streaming world.”
Twitter’s announcement explains it uses tweets and engagement... “...to detect and
surface the most popular tracks and emerging artists.” The new app puts artists front
and center, you can “...go to their profiles to see which music artists they follow and
listen to songs by those artists.”
Of course, you can also tweet songs directly
from the app. All Things D reports Twitter’s been spending the last week or so getting
artists involved.
“Twitter has been putting the iOS app
(and related Web service) in the hands of a … varied group of musicians, some of whom
really are superstars. Others, less so.”
Superstar or not, the artists have been tweeting their approval of the app.
The app has four pages: the Popular page shows you new music that's trending across Twitter,
Emerging shows you hidden talent found in tweets. The Suggested page shows artists you
might like based on the artists you follow and the #NowPlaying tab shows songs your friends
are listening to or tweeting about.
The web version rolled out a few hours after the GMA announcement, and the iOS app is launching
in the U.S., Canada, U.K., Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand before anywhere else. You’ll
be able to download it today in the App Store.