Twitter How Twitter's iPhone app shows the most popular music being tweeted.Now you can hear the Twittering.
With a new app, Twitter Music, referenced in print as #music, Twitter has promised to “change the way people find music.†I'm not so sure about that, but it will certainly change the way bands market music.
Basically the Twitter Music app lets you see what songs people are sharing and lets you listen too.
You need to know a few things to get started.
First, Twitter Music is distinct from Twitter, so you will have to download a separate app. What happens on Twitter does affect Twitter Music, but I'll get to that.
The music app, right now only for Apple products, lets you see a list of 140 songs in each of four categories. The “Popular†list has the songs by major artists that are most often mentioned and shared. It will also show the 140 top “Emerging†songs, which are by lesser-known artists. A third list makes recommendations based on the musicians you follow, and a fourth shows you what the people you are linked to on Twitter are sharing. You can also go to an artist's Twitter Music page, see which musicians they follow and listen to clips of those songs.
The app plays 30-second samples of songs. You can hear full-length songs on Twitter Music if you have a subscription with either the Rdio or Spotify streaming services. Twitter Music asks if you want to sign in with Rdio or Spotify when you first set it up.
Keep in mind you have to use the $10 a month versions of these streaming services to use Twitter Music on a mobile device. Once you are signed in, that's it â€" full songs will play.
While you are listening a small turntable icon appears, which you can use to change volume, pause, move to the next song or tweet the song yourself.
I don't know that Twitter Music changes the way people find music because you still have to dig through hit-and-miss recommendations to find what you like.
But it certainly helps artists sell themselves. Who is to say if one musician follows another because they like them or because it's good business for their label? I suppose it could be both.
The service is still quite new, so don't count on finding all of your obscure hipster favorites on Twitter Music. Right now the artists are pretty mainstream. I was unable to call up any of the lesser-known power pop bands I searched for.
But here is a tip. What happens on Twitter influences the results on Twitter Music. So if enough people tweet about a particular song, it may appear in the Popular or Emerging list. I'm starting my campaign for Paul Collins, Webb Wilder and Kurt Baker.
