Twicc: ‘We Want To Connect People Through Twitter And Music’

TTwicc [twik] is a new music discovery app for iOS, which plays Spotify songs matched with users’ tweets. The app analyzes users’ tweet from their timeline, and plays music that matches with the tweets.

twicc also won the Spotify award at this year’s Music Hack Day in Tokyo. A Spotify Premium subscription and a Twitter account is required in order to use the app.

Here’s an interview with Yusuke Ariyoshi, representative and developer of twicc:

Oscar: How and when was twicc created?

Yusuke: The first prototype of twicc was created at Music Hack Day 2014, in Tokyo.
The idea was born when I was brainstorming with Yasuno (one of the developers). The both of us wanted to create a music service used by many people, with a focus on communication like Chaku-Melo (which was a popular ringtone service in Japan). This was the first chance for Japanese developers to use Spotify API (Application Programming Interface).

We decided to create a new service, combining Spotify and Twitter. At the hack day, Ohyama (designer) joined the team and polished the app’s design. After that, we developed twicc for a few months, so that it could be released on the App Store.

How did you come up with the name ”twicc”?

“twicc” is a newly coined term, derived from “twitter, music and communication”. With twicc, we want to connect people through Twitter and music. The name “twicc” also showcases the lightsome feel of the app, it sounds like “flick” or “quick”.

What has been the project’s biggest challenge?

When it came to technology, it was a challenge to implement the analysis of tweets and combining them with Spotify tracks. The hack day was the first time that we got to see Spotify’s API in action, but we got it to work successfully (Yasuno did a good job!).

Tell us about the award that twicc won at the Music Hack Day in Tokyo!

twicc iPhone app

Music Hack Day doesn’t rank projects; however, each participating partner picks a project that they’re interested in. This year, Spotify favored twicc. This was the first time that the Music Hack Day was held in Japan, so we’re proud to be the first winners of Spotify’s prize!

What makes twicc unique, according to you?

I think it’s the way that people discover music: On twicc, music is connected to you, through the tweets of the ones you follow. The combination of a tweet and music is interesting, unexpected, and sometimes hilarious.

twicc’s experience is different from a shuffle playback; with a tweet, users are able to connect with the music on a more personal level. You can find new music beyond your ordinary taste [through the tweets], whether it’s EDM, classical, old songs or familiar ones. That is quite different from SoundCloud or Pandora.

twicc on the App Store.

Oscar Hjelmstedt is a Swedish journalist, student and bass player, with a passion for music and Tarantino-flicks.