Soon Your Bird Can Sing: Twitter to Release Music App

It’s not yet available to everyone, but Twitter’s giving a few hints about its forthcoming music app, which the social site is surely hoping will challenge music listening and sharing service Spotify.

Twitter’s music offering is likely to focus on social music recommendations–a move that would make sense considering its position as the second largest social network, popularity with musicians and music lovers, and the company’s purchase this week of a company that has been doing just that.

There is a hint of what’s coming here, where, as of Friday afternoon, Twitter’s iconic blue bird and the hashtag “music” dominated the page, along with the words “coming soon” and a log-in button. Pressing the button brought up a page asking you if you’d like to authorize “Twitter #music web” to use your Twitter account, giving it permission to read your timeline tweets, tweet on your behalf, view the list of people you follow, add followers, and update your profile. The description of the app promised “The best new music in the world right now”, but the service was not working.

It makes sense for Twitter to jump on the music, er, bandwagon: According to a Pew Research Center report, 67 percent of those who use social networking sites around the world share their opinions about music and movies on these sites. And Spotify, which offers a free and a paid version of its service, has been tapping into this by allowing users to share the songs they’re listening to with friends on sites like Facebook and Twitter, and to follow friends and artists within Spotify itself.

A few people are apparently already using it, including (apparently) American Idol host Ryan Seacrest, who has been tweeting about it. Various reports have suggested it will be available to all those with Twitter accounts soon.