Twitter in talks to buy online music firm SoundCloud: FT

(Reuters) - Twitter Inc has been in talks with Berlin-based online music platform SoundCloud in its efforts to add a music service to its offering, the Financial Times reported citing people familiar with the matter.

The microblogging site has weighed up deals worth billions of dollars and has also considered buying music-streaming service Spotify and internet-radio provider Pandora Media, the newspaper said citing the people. (http://r.reuters.com/heh89v)

SoundCloud is an audio platform that enables people to upload, record, promote and share their music.

The company has aggressively expanded its capabilities to carry multimedia content. Last year, it acquired 'We Are Hunted,' a three person music streaming-startup from Australia.

TWITTER (TWTR.NY)s renewed interest in music-streaming companies comes after Apple acquired Beats, the headphones and music-streaming firm founded by Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre, for $3 billion.

The Beats deal was seen as Apple's effort to jump-start an uneven attempt to make headway in music streaming, the fastest-growing segment of the market, as iTunes sales decline.

Pandora Media and Spotify have raced ahead while Apple's eight-month-old iTunes Radio has not made much of a dent.

Twitter and SoundCloud could not be immediately reached for comment outside regular U.S. business hours.

(Reporting by Ankush Sharma in Bangalore; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)