A music industry startup is looking to mine the vast and valuable pools of data generated daily on Twitter in hopes of discovering the next big thing.
The non-monetary deal inked by Twitter and the entertainment company 300 was announced this weekend by Lyor Cohen, its founder and the former North American chairman and CEO of recorded music for Warner Music Group.
Terms of the agreement state that 300 will gain access to previously unavailable data from Twitter about who happens to be tweeting about which artists and where. In return, 300 will curate the data, which Twitter might then sell to third parties, such as record companies or brands.
Related: Extortion Over $50,000 Twitter Handle Sets a Chilling Precedent
This means that 300 would theoretically be able to pinpoint how many people are tweeting about an emerging artist in a certain part of the world or over a specific period of time. And therein, the company might unearth the next big star.
"Music is the largest topic of conversation on Twitter,” the company's head of music, Bob Moczydlowsky, told Mashable, “so we're really invested in building a win-win environment for fans, artists, labels, promoters and music services. This partnership is a great example because it is about helping artists and labels find each other.”
Related: Spotify Musicians Can Now Sell Merchandise on Their Artist Pages
Last Wednesday, Twitter also announced a similar partnership with CNN and the venture-backed startup Dataminr to develop a product called Dataminr For News. Its aim is to develop an alert system for journalists to forge through all of the news that breaks daily via the roughly 500 million tweets that are sent out in order to excavate the most valuable pieces of information, or even identify potential sources.
This new venture is not Twitter’s first foray into music, where artists like Katy Perry (50.1 million followers) and Justin Bieber (49.3 million) dominate the network. Last spring, the company created its own app entitled Twitter #Music that tracks users’ activity to gauge popular tracks and emerging artists. However, the standalone app never caught on, and rumors soon abounded that it might shutter.
Related: Prince Targets His Biggest Fans in New Copyright Suit