Twitter has finally raised the white flag when it comes to its music recommendation service, Twitter Music after exactly a year since it launched.

The service was initially released on the iPhone and iPad back in April 2013 and aims to introduce new tracks to users through trending playlists and genres. However, the service had a number of restrictions that made it a less appealing choice to consumers in the face of competition such as Spotify and Rdio.

The lack of consumer interest and its inability to get traction has forced the micro-blogging site to retire Twitter Music with just a year after its launch. The app has now been pulled from the Apple App Store while the web-based service has already halted streaming activities and now redirects to iTunes Radio and Vine.

Furthermore, Twitter has dropped all development activities for the app months ago. The entirety of the service will closed down on April 18.

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Back in April, Twitter released its social music discovery service that recommends music based on the bands and artists that a user follows. However, decreasing download and usage numbers has caused Twitter to consider shutting down the service as reported by AllThingsD.

Although Twitter #Music sounded promising at first, with the app reaching the top 6 in overall free downloads on Apple’s iTunes App store; but as the months that followed showed the service failing to keep up with competing services such as those from Rdio and Spotify.

Before the end of Q2 2013, the app has dropped dramatically in terms of rankings. Moreover, Twitter has failed to fully integrate the service into its core product, leaving Twitter #Music to be developed in isolation.

But Twitter isn’t the only company that has experienced this kind of mishap. A few years back, Apple created the Ping social networking site and just like Twitter #Music has failed to get traction to consumers.

 Twitter has yet to comment on the story, but in case it decides it want its music recommendation service to rest; it still has a few options including chasing after its partnership with Rdio or iTunes.

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After almost a week of teasing, Twitter has finally lifted the curtains on its music service which is now available for iOS and on the web.

As a whole the music app seems to resemble existing music recommendation services such as Last.fm and Pandora, but with Twitter’s platform integrated into the service. Basically, Twitter Music is a music recommendation engine that is based on bands and artists that users follow.

Photo Courtesy of TechRadar.com

Recommendations made by the app can be sampled either as a 30-second preview using iTunes or if the user has a Spotify or Rdio account, the user can listen to the full track after signing in. The app will also be able to track what your friends are listening to and display recommendations by bands or artists a user follows.

In case a user isn’t following any bands or music artist, a Popular tab and an Emerging tab provides recommendations based on Twitter’s database. The Popular tab recommends music based from the general public data of top trending artists while the Emerging tab recommends music from up-and-coming artists.

Obviously, recommendations made by Twitter music are very dependent on the bands and artists that a user follows which can either make or break the app depending on the user. If a user is already has an account on Spotify or Rdio, the Twitter music app is a good way to make the experience of finding new music worthwhile. Otherwise, for those who are just using the app for the first time, recommendations as well as the experience is very limited.

Having said this, it’s evident that the clear winners here are Spotify and Rdio as the app finds a way to direct traffic and customers to these resources. Twitter can also benefit from this setup as the company can use the app to leverage its revenue by targeting specific music labels in placing ads on the service to promote a particular artist or band.

What are your thoughts about Twitter Music? Please do tell us by leaving a comment below.

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Last week news about Twitter launching its own music service surfaced after the company announced that they have acquired We Are Hunted – a music firm that tracks the most popular songs on the social network at a given time for a reported 200 million dollars.

Earlier reports suggested that Twitter maybe planning to release its music service during the weekend of last week in line with the celebration of the Coachella music festival in California. However, the weekend has passed and there’s still no Twitter music in sight. However, it seems that these rumors have forced Twitter’s hand to maybe prematurely go public with its plans.

Last Saturday (Friday PST), Twitter has launched a website (music.twitter.com) that displays the blue twitter icon with the hashtag music beside it. At first the site indicated that the service was on an invite-only basis but was later on changed to a coming soon status. There’s a sign in button at the center of the page but users who try to sign in using their Twitter accounts will just be redirected to an authorization window then loops back to the same sign-in page.

But it’s good to also note that the app is already working, at least for people that Twitter chose. For example, it seems American idol host Ryan Seacrest already has access to the service/app as he was already tweeting how awesome it was to use.

playing with @twitter's new music app (yes it's real!)...there's a serious dance party happening at idol right now
— Ryan Seacrest (@RyanSeacrest) April 11, 2013

Other reported features of the service include the ability to suggest artist and tracks to users based on a number of personalized signals such as Twitter accounts that a user follows. It can also use content from third party services such as iTunes, Vevo and Soundcloud.

What do you think of a possible Twitter Music app or service? Do tell us by leaving a comment below.

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