Twitter Launches #Music Service, Almost

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It’s been rumored for months that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), and Twitter are working on a music streaming service based on the success of the Bay Area’s Pandora and Rdio, along with European concern Spotify. Well, if it’s a race, Twitter seems to be in the lead. That is if you’re Ryan Seacrest, who seems to be the only person using the site at present. Not a bad marketing ploy, Twitter, given the popularity of American Idol and his ability to create buzz with his millions of followers.

Twitter Music

While the site is “live”, attempting to sign in uninvited will not bear much fruit. Attempts to log-in from your desktop will redirect you to a “Trending Music Web,” authorization page. No news yet on a mobile site but given that mobile is Twitter’s bread and butter it’s only a matter of time, and most are guessing it’s already in existence.

A redirected authorization page states that by authorizing Trending Music Web to use your account the application will be able to:

· Read Tweets from your timeline

· See who you follow, and follow new people

· Update your profile

· Post Tweets for you.

Twitter has made no comment on the service except to confirm the acquisition of Australian start-up We Are Hunted and their technology to track songs’ popularity on social media.

Seacrest tweeted on Thursday night “playing with @twitter’s new music app (yes it’s real!)…there’s a serious dance party happening at idol right now.”

This was confirmed as both We Are Hunted and Twitter’s verified corporate music account, @TwitterMusic, retweeted Seacrest’s boast immediately.

We Are Hunted founder Stephen Phillips also tweeted two playable tweets, one from SoundCloud, and one from Rdio. The assumption could be made that both will be integrated into Twitter’s new service.

While people all over Twitter and Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) seem to be excited, this launch is not without its detractors.

“It looks more like a marketing tool for artists and labels than a service for sitting and listening to music, so my guess is that the primary impact will be an increase in tweets from Kanye West and Justin Bieber,” Pacific Crest Securities analyst Andy Hargreaves told MarketWatch reporter Benjamin Pimentel for a Friday story.

While that reads a little catty, Mr. Hargreaves could be right.

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