Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2013/04/15/twitter_music_launch/

Twitter buys music firm We Are Hunted, preps soundtrack for 200m twits

What do you mean you don't like what EVERYONE ELSE is listening to...

By Jasper Hamill

Posted in Legal, 15th April 2013 07:30 GMT

Twitter is set to finally make some noise as it prepares to launch a new music service.

The microblogging behemoth has snapped up a music-search service called We Are Hunted which scours the internet to identify what people are listening to and then makes recommendations based upon its findings.

We Are Hunted confirmed the deal last week and claimed "there's no question that Twitter and music go together".

However, the acquisition is rumoured to have taken place in 2012, which indicates that Twitter has long been planning a music service.

A new website has been launched at music.twitter.com, which is currently blank save for the hashtag #music.

The new service is rumoured to be contained within its own app and is predicated to offer music recommendations.

It will reportedly allow users to listen to clips from DJs' favourite music sharing site Soundcloud and watch music videos from Vevo.

American Idol host Ryan Seacrest tipped off the world to the existence of the new service with a tweet on Thursday which said: "Playing with @twitter's new music app (yes it's real!)... there's a serious dance party happening at idol right now."

Online music is in the midst of a streaming revolution, with services like Spotify becoming an ever more important revenue stream for record companies.

The streaming market earns record labels £49m a year in the UK alone, according to the British Phonographic Industry.

According to the BPI, Britons have now bought one billion singles online. Adele’s Someone Like You is most downloaded single of all time, followed by Moves Like Jagger by Maroon 5 and Gotye's Somebody That I Used To Know. ®