Twitter has unveiled a new app designed to change the way people discover music.
The site said #music would suggest tracks based on who a user follows and bring the most popular songs and emerging artists to the fore.
Music can be played through the app itself or on services such as Rdio, Spotify and iTunes. Users can also tweet songs directly from the app.
The launch follows intense speculation over Twitter’s next move which comes after Facebook introduced a music feature that allows people to listen to songs with their friends.
A handful of artists have already trialled the service, which was being rolled out this afternoon.
Singer-songwriter Moby described the app as a “really interesting music resource” while musician Jason Mraz tweeted: “Thanks to my friends @TwitterMusic for sharing your new app and connecting us thru music. Congrats!”
The app is available from Apple’s App Store and is expected to be made available for Android devices “soon”.
In a blog post, Twitter’s Stephen Philips said: “Today, we’re releasing Twitter £music, a new service that will change the way people find music, based on Twitter.
“It uses Twitter activity, including tweets and engagement, to detect and surface the most popular tracks and emerging artists.
“It also brings artists’ music-related Twitter activity front and centre: go to their profiles to see which music artists they follow and listen to songs by those artists.”
According to Twitter, many of the accounts with the most followers are those of musicians, while half of its users follow at least one artist.
“This is why artists turn to Twitter first to connect with their fans and why we wanted to find a way to surface songs people are tweeting about,” Mr Philips added.
The #music app is available for download in the UK, US, Canada, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.
The site plans to bring the service to more countries “over time”.