Digital birdsong: Twitter to launch music service later this month

Social media platform Twitter is planning to launch a music app later this month, following its acquisition of music service We Are Hunted, according to CNet.

We Are Hunted – founded by Stephen Phillips, Richard Slatter and Michael Doherty – is an online music discovery platform that publishes music charts, as well as developing applications for iOS, Android and Spotify.

Powered by sharing service Soundcloud, the Twitter app will be compatible with iOS devices and users will be able to follow their favourite artists, songs, and share recommendations with friends. Upon following an artist, the app will bring up their Soundcloud profile as well as track previews on iTunes.

For the past month, We Are Hunted staff have been tweeting tests using the #nowplaying hashtag.

Stephen Phillips recently said to Liisten: “2013 will be a huge year for Hunted. We will either become one of the world’s most important music services, or we will disappear as a footnote in the long history of music startups.

“We are working on the next version of Hunted right now, and we are swinging for the fences. I think we are doing things no one has ever done. I see the data we are collecting, and I know we are going to give fans a view of music world no one has ever seen before. We really hope people love it.”