World's first Twitter music album now available

Twitter allows users to post messages on the site which are limited to just 140 characters. However, a new breed of cutting-edge composers has developed programming tricks that squeeze as much as five minutes of music into those 140 characters.

Stowell and his team developed the new technique by applying computer science and audio signal processing to help analyse music and create new ways for people to enjoy music.

"It all started a few months ago," said Stowell, who is studying for his PhD in Queen Mary's Centre for Digital Music (C4DM). "I was writing in a programming language - called SuperCollider - that tells a computer what sounds to make and posted a tweet containing the instructions to create a sound like waves crashing on the shore. The next thing I knew people were tweeting back with sounds and music of their own."

The album, "sc140" is available to the public for free, says Stowell. Musicians can now collaborate online by sending audio recordings to each other via the micro blogging site - a stark contrast to the traditional solitary process of music composition.

"For computer scientists and composers alike, it's an interesting challenge," said Stowell. "Musicians often enjoy the challenge of working within limitations, and in our research group we investigate new ways of making music and communicating artistically."

However, Stowell said the album may not make a good Christmas present for the average relative. "My granny might raise her eyebrows if I gave her sc140 for Christmas, but if yours is the Aphex Twin type, then she'd definitely love it," he said.