Twitter silences #Music service one year after launch

24 Mar 2014

Twitter #Music announced in a tweet that the service will shut down on 18 April, exactly one year after the app’s launch on iOS. The social network is now looking at other avenues to drive music-based content.

The music discovery service launched amid some buzz following the Coachella music festival last spring. However, the app failed to engage users and development shuddered to a stop a few months ago. An Android version never even saw light of day.

On Friday, @TwitterMusic tweeted, “Later this afternoon, we will be removing Twitter #music from the App Store. If you have the app, it will continue to work until April 18.”

A second tweet added, “We continue to experiment with new ways to bring you great content based on the music activity we see every day on Twitter,” affirming that Twitter is not quite finished trying to attract music-lovers.

Failed experiment

Twitter’s failed experiment allowed users to discover music through artists and others they follow. They could listen to tracks streamed via Spotify or Rdio, but could only do so on a piecemeal one-by-one basis. Links were also provided to music videos through YouTube and Vevo, and music purchases were enabled by iTunes.

Apart from offering a less-than-fluid music-listening experience, Twitter #Music also faltered when it came to recommendations, even though it had acquired Australian start-up We Are Hunted to bolster this offering.

As of October 2013, the app ranked 165th among the free music apps category on the App Store, according to AppData.

Elaine Burke is the host of For Tech’s Sake, a co-production from Silicon Republic and The HeadStuff Podcast Network. She was previously the editor of Silicon Republic.

editorial@siliconrepublic.com