In an interesting collaboration that mashes together social networking, radio-style request lines, and pureplay streaming, Bollywood-oriented music service Saavn is partnering with Twitter to enable tweeted music requests.
Saavn is a two-tier service modeled similarly to Spotify, with an ad-supported freemium plan underlying a paid subscription program without commercial interruption. The Twitter link-up is for freemium listeners. Tweeted requests help build a playlist. when a request is played, the requestor gets a tweeted confirmation.
The result, if many users engage, will be increased Saavn presence in the Twittersphere. Saavn’s Twitter feed currently has 73 followers.
For Twitter’s part, this partnership is one of many angles into music discovery and listening. A previous Twitter-centric discovery app called #Music ended with low engagement and was eventually shut off. Now, Twitter is partnering with dedicated music platforms (e.g. SoundCloud) as a way into the user habits of music lovers.