Despite its recent failed #Music app, Twitter is apparently going back to the well and trying to tie itself to the music industry.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Twitter is going after partnerships with three industry heavyweights: Beats Music, SoundCloud, and Vevo.
The Journal reported tonight that Twitter has proposed teaming up with the Beats music-streaming service, a pact that would promote subscriptions to that service. At the same time, it is also looking for a new relationships with music hosting service SoundCloud, and with Vevo, which could provide video clips to embed in tweets.
For Twitter, establishing itself as a major player in music -- a $16.5 billion industry --would be a big step towards giving potential new users -- as well as its existing base -- a solid reason to spend time on the service.
Late last year, Twitter went public at $26 a share, but after seeing its stock rise as high as $74.73, it has since drifted down to $44.43. The biggest reason for that drop has been increasing concerns among investors that the social network's growth has plateaued. Given that nearly all its revenue comes from advertising, it needs strong growth in order to become a consistently profitable company.
Giving people plenty of ways to listen to and watch music would be one way that the service could retain its existing users, and lure new ones. Plus, tweets embedded with music clips would likely also come with ads, providing Twitter with more revenue.
But the company's previous attempts to tie itself to the industry have not gone well. Last year, Twitter launched the stand-alone #Music app. It was met with near universal apathy, and it had been stagnant for months. Just a week ago, Twitter finally pulled it from Apple's App Store, and said that the app will continue working for those who have it only until April 18.
That move may well have preceded its new music strategy. But the company will have to do a lot to win over users, and more importantly, investors.
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