After weeks of buzz as celebrities and VIPs test-drove Twitter‘s new music app, #music, the platform has finally been released to the public, available for iPhone and iPad. #music is designed to help tech-savvy music fans discover new music. The app also promises to turn Twitter into a powerful tool for artists to reach even more new fans than before.
Does #music live up to the hype? Read on to learn more about how the app works and what it might mean for the future of music discovery online.
The app is broken up into four separate screens, each displaying a grid of songs with the artist’s photo, similar to We Are Hunted, which Twitter recently acquired. The “Popular” category shows the artists who are getting the most tweets that day. “Emerging” presents what Twitter calls “hidden talent found in the Tweets”. These tend to be indie artists who are gaining in popularity. Next, the “Suggested” screen shows artists recommended for you based on bands you already follow, and “#Now Playing” displays songs that people you follow are tweeting about. Simply tap on an artist’s image to play a song and a cute spinning record graphic appears. You can follow musicians from the app and view the other artists they follow, but you can’t see their Twitter feed, nor does the app display any biographical information.
If you’re like me and you follow most of your favorite bands on Twitter, #music immediately has a treasure trove of cool tunes for you to explore. However, if you’ve never used Twitter before or don’t use it to follow musicians, you won’t get much from the app’s Suggested or #Now Playing screens. Additionally, you need to have a Spotify or Rdio account to really enjoy the app. If you can’t connect to an outside streaming service, you will only be able to hear a 30-second preview of each song, which is kind of disappointing. I like that I can tweet a song immediately from the app or follow the artist, but I wish there was a way to bookmark a song for later without necessarily broadcasting it to all of my followers. I also think it would be nice if I could follow an artist’s music feed without necessarily subscribing to their regular Twitter feed as well.
It will be interesting to see if #music will really change the way we discover new music. Currently, when I’m looking for new artists, I’m likely to turn to a trusted blog, a friend’s Spotify feed, or an Internet radio site, such as Pandora, that plays selections based on an algorithm. #music is an attempt to combine all of those things into one application, allowing me to see what my friends are listening to, what music bloggers are tweeting about, and which artists are trending on the charts. The app shows great promise but I doubt we’ll see it reach its full potential unless lots of people see value in the app and use it. Due to competition from so many other more established music sites, Twitter could have difficulty showing the public at large what #music has to offer that other services do not.
Music fans, how do you discover new music? Have you given #music a spin? Let us know in the comments!
–Megan L. TakeLessons Staff Member and Blogger
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Photo by Chealion
Megan L.