The blogosphere got itself all flustered late last week with the imminent release of Twitter’s music app in time for the Coachella festival. Only to find that, er, the app wasn’t launching in time for the Coachella festival.
But a few more details emerged on Friday about how the app is being seeded with influential celebrities, and what sort of features it will have once live for everybody else.
All Things Digital notes that US TV host Ryan Seacrest was just one of a number of celebs who have been given early access to the music discovery app, with sources saying “you should expect to see dozens of other celebrities chatting it up over the next few days” – watch for the #nowplaying hashtag which Twitter appears to have adopted for the app.
The app is expected to open up to all at the end of this week, although a music.twitter.com signup page hints it may be called Trending Music rather than Twitter Music, as had been expected.
Developers have been eagerly poking around in the source code for that site to uncover more details. Streaming services Spotify, Rdio and SoundCloud look like they’re integrated, along with iTunes, Vevo and YouTube.
It seems artist biographies, charts, verified users (those celebs again, but also artists) and search functions will also be in the app, developed within Twitter by its recently-acquired music startup We Are Hunted.
Is Twitter’s music app really a big deal for the music industry, though? After all, there are hundreds of music discovery apps available on smartphones, with Shazam still the only one to have made a genuinely-significant impact on industry income through its iTunes purchasing links.
Yet Twitter’s music move does have potential: the company said last week at MIPTV that 60% of its users access Twitter from mobile devices, although this rises to 80% in the UK. Not a bad launchpad for a music discovery app trying to make a meaningful impact.
Source: Musically
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