Twitter Music founder leaves to join Jelly, a new startup
Less than a week after #music is launched, one of its chief originators departs for another upstart by Twitter co-founder Biz Stone.
The man responsible for helping lead the team that built Twitter's music app has reportedly stepped down.
According to AllThingsD, Kevin Thau is leaving Twitter to join a startup launched by Twitter co-founder Biz Stone called Jelly. Thau is said to be the new chief operating officer of the startup.
Last month, news first appeared that Stone was preparing to add Jelly to his line of startups. It's said to be a company that will most likely produce a product to be featured on smartphones and tablets.
Twitter hired Thau in 2009 to be a director of mobile business development; he came into the job as a veteran of tech companies Buzzwire and Openwave.
While at Twitter, Thau helped develop the social network's music app and is one of the people responsible for finding "We Are Hunted," which is the startup acquired by Twitter that the app is based on, according to AllThingsD.
Twitter officially unveiled #music last week during "Good Morning America." The app uses Twitter activity, including tweets and other engagement, to detect the most popular tracks and emerging artists. It also brings artists' music-related Twitter activity front and center, which allows users to visit artists' profiles to see what musicians they follow and what music they like.
CNET contacted Twitter for comment. We'll update the story when we get more information.