With the average user and outlets like MTV already sharing tons of music-focused content online, Instagram is launching a music-focused stream of its own. Simply called @music, the account will share photos, lyrics, and videos exploring music around the world and the artists that make it.
The account launched this morning with an announcement post from CEO Kevin Systrom, in which he states that @music will show a "different side" to the up-and-coming and popular artists Instagram's more than 300,000 users care about. The account will update six times per week, and updates will focus on talented unsigned acts, how an artist goes about writing a song, or the people that make consuming music powerful. "It means highlighting music photographers, album illustrators, instrument makers and, of course, fans," Systrom writes.
The first feature focuses on Roots drummer Questlove, in which he talks about how he works a room:
This isn't the first time a social platform has made a concerted effort at making content about music. Twitter famously launched Twitter #Music in 2013. The service allowed users to search for music their friends were listening to, and featured Spotify, Rdio, and iTunes integration. However, the service never took off, and was officially dead a year later. Instagram's ambitions for @music seem to be focused more on storytelling than streaming, however, so there's a good chance the new account will stick around for awhile.