Twitter acquires We Are Hunted, readies standalone music app

 Internet News, Tech News
Mar 142013
 

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Twitter acquired the music discovery service We Are Hunted last year and is using its technology to build a standalone music app, CNET has learned.

The app, to be called Twitter Music, could be released on iOS by the end of this month, according to a person familiar with the matter. Twitter Music suggests artists and songs to listen to based on a variety of signals, and is personalized based on which accounts a user follows on Twitter. Songs are streamed to the app via SoundCloud.

Twitter Music, which is set to arrive in the wake of key competitor Facebook overhauling the music section of its News Feed, shows Twitter taking new steps into becoming a full-fledged media company. The app acknowledges the key role music has played in drawing new users to the service — particularly younger, mainstream users. Pop stars have some of Twitter’s most popular accounts, with followings in the tens of millions. The TwitterMusic account has 2.3 million followers — not a bad perch from which to launch an eponymous app.

Twitter and We Are Hunted did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

An app built for discovery

Unlike Vine, the video sharing app that Twitter released in January, the music app carries Twitter branding. The app’s icon consists of a silver “play” button with the familiar blue Twitter bird looking down on it from the corner.

READ MORE:  Twitter acquires We Are Hunted, readies standalone music app | Mobile – CNET News.