Twitter #Music app is official, integrates with iTunes, Spotify and Rdio

The wait is over: Twitter’s new music app is official and it is here.

The social network announced that its much-rumoured new offering, which is being rolled out today on the web and as an iOS app, is designed to use your Twitter activity to “detect and surface the most popular tracks and emerging artists” you may find interesting. The app was designed by the team behind We Are Hunted, the music startup Twitter acquired last year.

The #music app shifts the focus to artists, allowing fans to see what musicians their favourite stars follow, as well as listen to music and share it to Twitter within the app. The #nowplaying hashtag is going to become even bigger, as the app lets you see who’s been tweeting about listening to specific songs and artists using the hashtag. It also suggests artists and music you may like based on what you’ve been tweeting and who you’ve been interacting with, and allows you to follow new artists from inside the app.

The music discover app currently includes songs from iTunes, as well as streaming music services Spotify and Rdio, although Twitter says it plans to increase the number of providers in the future. When searching for music in the app, users will be able to hear short previews from iTunes by default, although Spotify and Rdio users will be able to link their accounts to listen to entire tracks.

The social network says that that the placeholder website is slowly going live in the US, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand today (the iOS app is already in the App Store). It is planning to extend the roll out to more countries in the future, as well as launch an Android app.