Twitter to launch a music application?

According to a report on CNET, Twitter could be entering the world of online music services with the rumoured launch of a standalone music application.

The exclusive CNET report claims that, following Twitter's very quiet acquisition of music discovery service We Are Hunted last year, the company is preparing to launch a standalone music application, perhaps as soon as the end of this month.

According to CNET, the music application will first be launched on iOS, will be called "Twitter Music," and will suggest particular artists and songs for the user to listen to based on "a variety of signals" as well as the artists that the app user follows on Twitter.

The selected songs will then be streamed to the app via the music sharing service Soundcloud.

Despite no official word from Twitter, the CNET report seems highly credible, with writer Casey Newton describing the layout of the app and manner in which it will function.

According to the report, one of the functions of the app will be the "#NowPlaying" tab.

"#NowPlaying" has been appearing as a popular trend on Twitter for the past few months and, according to the report, this tab will link app users with Twitter users they follow who post songs using the hashtag, allowing them to see what music their online friends are listening to.