Users of streaming service Rhapsody can now tweet songs to their followers, thanks to a new licensing deal for the company’s 34 million-track catalogue.

And when they receive Rhapsody’s custom audio cards in their feed, Twitter users can also stream, discover and share complete tracks within the social media platform.

As such, Rhapsody becomes the first streaming music service to offer licensed full-track playback to music fans on Twitter – which it says will “ensure that artists, labels and publishers are paid for their work as songs are played”.

‘While listening to music on Rhapsody, simply tap the Twitter icon, add comments and hashtags, and share the full-length song,’ explained Rhapsody in a blog post. ‘Friends and followers will see the Rhapsody audio card in their Twitter stream and can press the play button to hear the song that inspired the Tweet.’

All audio cards used on Twitter will also contain a “Learn about Rhapsody” button that leads them to download the Rhapsody app.They will then be offered an exclusive trial of the platform, although at the moment this is a US-only offer.

“We loved how Twitter audio cards work seamlessly within the Twitter app and we wanted to make the experience of sharing music with friends easy by bringing great licensed content to one of the world’s largest conversation platforms,” said Ethan Rudin, chief financial officer, Rhapsody International.

“Our goal with this launch is to not only help make streaming more social, but also to reinforce that music isn’t free – every song played is accounted for and fully paid up.”

Artists including Wiz Khalifa, Pearl Jam, Fifth Harmony, Flo Rida, Hunter Hayes have signed up to share songs this week from their latest albums on Twitter using Rhapsody audio cards. [Music Business Worldwide]