TWITTER COULD START OFFERING MUSIC SERVICES

Micro-blogging site Twitter is rumoured to
be launching a new music service after
buying the music discovery site We Are
Hunted.
We Are Hunted confirmed the deal, adding
"there's no question that Twitter and music
go well together" - and said it was shutting
down.
The hashtag #music is also featured on the
newly-launched music.twitter.com.
Reports suggest the new service will offer
personalised recommendations on music
through its own dedicated app.
US celebrity host Ryan Seacrest confirmed
the existence of Twitter's new app on
Thursday via a tweet: "playing with
@twitter's new music app (yes it's real!)...
there's a serious dance party happening at
idol right now".
The music app could be announced as soon
as Friday.
The We Are Hunted acquisition actually
happened in 2012, according to reports,
suggesting that the music service has long
been in the works.
In seven years, Twitter has accumulated 200
million users worldwide, who now send an
average of 400 million short messages - or
tweets - every day.
Twitter's latest move comes as music
streaming - where the songs are hosted on
servers by companies such as Spotify rather
than bought and kept on consumers'
computers - has taken off amid a boom in
digital downloading.
The streaming market is now worth £49m to
record labels in the UK, the trade body BPI
has said.