Now playing: Twitter #music

Twitter has jumped feet first into the music service industry, launching the aptly named #music today.

The social networking site says the new service will "change the way people find music, based on Twitter."

Using Twitter activity, including Tweets and engagement, the service detects and surfaces the most popular tracks and emerging artists, from over 200 million daily users.

"Twitter and music go great together," says Stephen Philips, Twitter.

"People share and discover new songs and albums every day.

"Many of the most-followed accounts on Twitter are musicians, and half of all users follow at least one musician.

"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."

Offering the service to a host of celebrities, tweet endorsements included, Twitter says the service also brings artists’ music-related Twitter activity front and centre, and of course, you can tweet songs right from the app.

The songs on Twitter #music currently come from three sources: iTunes, Spotify or Rdio and by default users will hear previews from iTunes when exploring music in the app.

As streaming music grows in popularity, the social media giant says subscribers to Rdio and Spotify can log in to their accounts to enjoy full tracks that are available in those respective catalogs.

"So, if you’re interested in the songs that have been tweeted by the artists and people you follow on Twitter, you can navigate to #NowPlaying to view and listen to those songs," Philips says.

"Or if you’re scrolling through a chart and you want to learn more about a band, like Chvrches, you can tap their avatar to see their top song, follow them right from the chart, or tap their Twitter username to go to their profile.

"Or if you want to listen to music from the artists Wiz Khalifa follows, you can search for his name using the search icon in the top right corner.

"Then tap one of the artists you’re interested in and hit the play button to begin listening, or press play on the player to listen to all the artists."

Available from the App Store today, the service is available in the US, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.

Over time, Twitter says it will bring the service to Android as well as to more countries.

Do you prefer to own or buy music? To read our exclusive interview with Pandora’s ANZ managing director Jane Huxley for her thoughts on the future of digital music, check out the May issue of NetGuide here – on sale May 1.

Do you prefer to rent or buy music? Tell us your thoughts below