Skip to main content

Twitter acquires We Are Hunted, Twitter Music app could launch this weekend

twitterMusic discovery service We Are Hunted confirmed Thursday evening it had been acquired by Twitter and would be shuttering its site to work with the microblogging giant on a music-based project.

Twitter also confirmed the acquisition with the tweet below:

Recommended Videos

“There’s no question that Twitter and music go well together,” the We Are Hunted team wrote in a post on its website. “Artists turn to Twitter first to connect with fans, and people share and discover new songs and albums every day.”

The Australian startup added that it was working on a new project with Twitter, but said that at this stage it was unable to provide further information.

However, at around the same time that We Are Hunted announced news of the acquisition, celebrity Ryan Seacrest let the cat out of the bag about what was in store, tweeting, “playing with twitter’s new music app (yes it’s real)” – nice one, Ryan!.

A few minutes later he went further: “lovin the app…shows what artists are trending, also has up and coming artists.”

News that Twitter and We Are Hunted, which launched four years ago, were up to something first emerged a month ago when Cnet reported that the microblogging giant had acquired the music site as long ago as last year in preparation for a standalone music app, likely to be called Twitter Music.

An AllThingsD report Thursday night said that according to sources familiar with the matter, Twitter Music will launch this weekend at the Coachella Music Festival in California.

According to Cnet, the app will offer users personalized music recommendations through four main tabs – ‘suggested’ recommends artists and tracks based on your follower graph; ‘#NowPlaying’ shows links to songs tweeted by those you follow who tweet using the #NowPlaying hashtag; ‘popular’ reveals tracks that are trending; and ‘emerging’ gives information on up-and-coming artists.

Artists and tracks will reportedly be shown in a grid design, with a single tap on any tile making it fill the screen, revealing a bio together with links to tracks the artist has on SoundCloud, or possibly to track previews on the iTunes store.

It’s likely that Twitter users will be able to sign in to Twitter Music using their Twitter name and password, though it’ll also be possible to join without a Twitter account.

Twitter’s acquisition is the latest in a number of strategic moves that sees the microblogging service continuing to bring services in-house and expand its use of various media. In August 2011, for example, it introduced a photo-sharing feature to its app, while more recently, in October, it acquired Vine, an app that allows users to shoot and share short video clips.

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
How to download music from SoundCloud on desktop and mobile
Soundcloud Interface on a Macbook.

If you're a die-hard music fan, you probably keep a curated library of playlists packed with your favorite artists and albums on Spotify, Apple Music, or whatever your favorite music streaming app is. But how do you discover the best indie artists today? Some music-streaming platforms are better than others at celebrating the ‘unsung gem’ acts, but one of the most reliable forums for new, off-the-grid tunes is SoundCloud.

Founded in 2007, SoundCloud has always prioritized music that’s a bit under the radar. With over 320 million tracks in its library, the platform will even let you download a majority of its songs and albums.

Read more
The best kids headphones of 2025: for fun, safety, and sound
Two kids using the Puro Sound PuroQuiet Plus to watch something on a tablet.

Kid-friendly consumer tech is all the rage these days, so it’s no surprise that there’s an entire market of headphones designed exclusively for young ones. But when we think “kid-friendly,” sometimes we imagine products that are built to be a bit more throwaway than their adult counterparts. That’s not the case with the products on our list of the best headphones for kids, though.

We want our child-tailored headphones to include parental-controlled volume limiters, to ensure our children aren’t harming their eardrums. Pretty much every entry on our list checks this vital box, but we also wanted to point you and yours toward products that offer exceptional noise-canceling, built-in mics for phone and video calls, and long-lasting batteries for schooldays or a long flight.

Read more
How to master your equalizer settings for the perfect sound
An equalizer from eqMac.

Casual listeners might boot up Spotify or turn on the radio to listen to music without giving the balance or sound stage much thought. Audiophiles on the other hand like to dig a bit deeper and customize their experience. One common way to tinker with how music sounds is adjustments to the equalizer, which offers the freedom to tweak every aspect of the sound booming out of headphones or speakers. Even some streaming services now have built-in EQs, giving you more ways than ever to play with your music and find something that best fits your ears.

Shaping the equalizer to your preferences can be daunting to newcomers, as there are tons of cryptic settings you can manipulate. And if you mess with the wrong one, your sound quality might take a nasty hit. Thankfully, learning the basics isn't too difficult.

Read more