Twitter and Billboard partner to share trending tracks

After killing its #Music service, Twitter is taking another stab at its music strategy by announcing a partnership with music news magazine Billboard. The companies have introduced a Billboard Twitter Real-Time Chart, meant to monitor music conversation in the U.S. and create a “social soundtrack” of popular music trends. The chart will also be put up on Billboard.com so users can see the conversation happening on Twitter. You can follow @Billboard and @TwitterMusic to get regular updates on trending songs and popular artists as well.

Source: ReadWrite

7digital to release music download service app on Tizen

7digital plans to give Tizen users a version of their music app that will be in line with those for other platforms. The company aims to provide accessibility to over 25 million tracks across Tizen devices. The price for the music will be the same as that on 7digital sites and those on their other apps. Users will also get similar functionality as well as access to localized features. The app is set for a global release in the second quarter of the year.

Source: Slash Gear

Google Search update turns spotlight on YouTube for music searches

Google wants to make sure you keep using its services with a new update for its search engine. If you search for a song on Google, a Google Now-style card will appear with a link to the YouTube video plus information such as artist, album, and release date.

Search Engine Watch reports the feature has been available since September last year. A Google spokesperson said, "This was already available in September 2013 when you searched for an artist and then clicked on a song—you’d see a preview of the music video if it was available to display. Yesterday we made it easier to get to—you can now just search for a song directly and see the video screenshot right away.”

Digital music sales drop for the first time since opening of iTunes Store

Looks like streaming services such as Pandora and Spotify are hitting digital music sales where it hurts. Billboard reports digital track sales have dropped 5.7 percent to 1.34 billion units for the first time in 2013 since iTunes Store opened 10 years before. Album sales also dropped 0.1 percent to 117.6 million. Streaming services that provide unlimited seem to entice listeners to subscribe to them instead of buying albums that cost roughly the same price.