Twitter Music

It seemed that not so long ago New Zealand was a forgotten group of islands in the South Pacific, at least as far as the big internet music services went.  As a music fan I was pretty miffed that streaming services like Pandora and Spotify were freely available in North America and Europe yet we had a few pitiful local offerings that don't cut the mustard.

Bricks and mortar records stores are all but gone in New Zealand, the commercial radio selection is frankly so awful I avoid them for fear that my brain may atrophy.

Twitter launches #music

Then all of sudden, Spotify arrived, and Pandora, Rdio too.  What a treat for music starved Kiwis.  There's been a flood of music possibilities recently.  We're no longer forgotten.  Now we also have Twitter launching their #music service.  It's not even like we're getting it later than the rest of the world - from what I can see it's launching in NZ at the same time as in the major markets.

I like the idea of Twitter music.  They've teamed up with Spotify, Rdio and iTunes to  help their followers find the music they like best.  It makes use of your Twitter profile to identify music artists that you follow - it's common for many Twitter fans to follow at least one music artist.  Although other outfits have tried to use social media for music Twitter has the vast established user base to actually make it work.  An instant audience in the hundreds of millions.

Currently Twitter #music is available through your favourite browser or on your smartphone (unfortunately only on iOS as a dedicated app, not Android yet).

With all of this great music waiting to be heard there's really no need to make do with the swill coming over the commercial airwaves, is there?


Spotify or iTunes for Twitter music followers? (TechRadar)

Early review of Twitter music (Telegraph UK)

Helping fans to find their favourite music (Guardian UK)

Top of the social media charts - who is most popular?