I've been using Grooveshark and Last.fm for years. However, I'm looking for some new mediums. What do you all use and recommend?
I'm in university now, so most of my music discovery is going to live shows and talking with my friends, but I used to be really into using the internet to find my music. My first stop was always either r/futurebeats or r/indiewok, but the turnover rate (especially with r/indiewok) wasn't fast enough for me. I started following youtube channels that showcased the type of music I liked: majestic casual and versimilitude mostly. Once I had a good list of artists I liked, I would visit their record labels' sites to check for new music from other producers on the label. For me this was mostly: Alpha Pup, Ghostly, and Ninja Tune, as well as wedidit. I also started following producer blogs like ISO50 a.k.a Tycho for further music discovery, as well as blogs about the genre like The Purple Bay. It's really about jumping from link to link that you find on websites.
As a fellow university student, I have to agree: most of the music I discover is from either live shows or talking with my friends. Normally during a party at our house, I'll put on Spotify through the speakers on my account, and give everyone free reign to fill up a playlist with their music. The next few days I'll listen to the playlist and I normally find five or six new bands I like. Contrary to the whole internet thing brendan suggested, I think the second biggest way I find my music is watching TV shows and adverts. I know this sounds odd, but some tv shows (Breaking Bad especially) have really good soundtracks, and looking up what the songs are can open loads of new possibilities for new bands. Ads are the same, although less common. Sometimes I'll hear an add and love the song, look it upm forget the product, remember the band.
This thread is great, I´ve been looking for new places to find new music. I use multiple sources on internet. Sputnikmusic and Lastfm to see their "similar" artist and also the ranking system.
I also use Rateyourmusic to see what album I should get.
For music reviews I use The Needle Drop, I also discover ton of music because of this guy.
On reddit occasionally you get good threads of music, especially on r/indiewok or r/listentothis.
I used to use Hypem a lot and I haven´t use it in a while but it´s a good place to discover music.
The blogs BeatsPerMinute and WeListenForYou are pretty good.
I really like mathrock and alot of blogs don´t talk about this genre so I go to r/mathrock. Edit:By the way if anyone wants to add me on Lastfm my username is kitinnitik.
what.cd, the people on that site really love music and put in an unbelievable amount of effort into maintaining the technological quality of all releases without imposing any sort of restriction on what constitutes "good" or "bad" music. Everything from Finnish death metal to Tuvan throat singing exists within their archives. When I'm looking for new producers of a particular genre, I simply plug in the big names I know, wander down the similar artist and pick out one or two popular albums to get a taste and investigate further when one strikes a chord with me. And before you go off on a rant at me for music piracy, I use the website for music /discovery/, no different than grooveshark , last.fm, or old-fashion radio. Once I find musicians that I have an affection for, I make an effort to see live shows or buy the albums I found myself enjoying repeatedly. But don't bother asking me for an invite, my pockets are empty.
I use a few online sources for new music, last.fm being one of them, more recently I use two specific sources. hype machine, this is really good for finding what's trending on music blogs out there, it's without a doubt the most current music available, and monthly showcases a radio podcast that rounds up the months most popular tracks. Bernie Connor's sound of Music, Bernie Connor is a real DJ, he's played the scene in Liverpool for years, and now hosts a monthly podcast with a real eclectic mix of new and old music, I always find something new, rare and amazing here.
r/listentous is a wonderful community that has a somewhat user-centric contribution system. Only people who have proven to have an interesting music taste in the 2-weekly elections are allowed to post content. It leads to a wonderful mix of good stuff.
My favorite was to go to Purevolume and look at the top unsigned bands every few months. There was always at least one awesome group that I could get into.
Fall in love with someone and assimilate their interests.
Othermusic out of New York has a great website for new music. I go onto Pitchfork a lot. Gilles Peterson on BBC Radio 6 has an excellent show on Saturdays. Laurie Brown on CBC has a good show. I also try to follow labels too. Ghostly, as mentioned, is fantastic. 4AD, Secretly Canadian, Stones Throw, and Warp. All good labels.
Very cool. I'd have a lot less money if that was the case for me. I meant to visit them last time I was in NYC, but couldn't manage. I really love the fact that it's all about the music with them. People into good beats without the pretension. I've relied on them for over a decade now to be turned onto things I would have otherwise missed. No doubt, their year-end list is the one I take most seriously.
A lot of what I've come to listen to has been suggestions from friends. If you've got people ya know that are as interested in music as you are, talk to them about it! You'll find out about new artists for sure, but whether you like them or not is up in the air. Also, internet. Spotify is great because playlists are awesome and you can search for free music on there all day. Also if I find an artists I like I'll generally google them, look through the Wiki page on them and find the rest of their releases, other bands on the same record label as them, etc. And then go listen to as much of their stuff as I can and check out some other works that are similar. And if you know exactly what you're looking for, check out places specifically for those kind of things. Reddit has some great (and less than great) music subreddits that, depending how active they are, may help you find some new tunes similar to what you already like.
Unfortunately, where I live, none of the services like Pandora, Spotify or Grooveshark are available, so up until recently I made do with word of mouth/chance discoveries. Some people knock it, but I found that Google Reader is really useful for aggregating blogs and such, because it makes it easier to scan content and pick through what looks good, across a variety of genres and styles. Also, sometimes I throw r/listentothis up on the TV whilst I'm busy there; it's good for background music, and comes up with nice stuff regularly. Specifically I like Indie Shuffle a lot. They might not appeal to everyone, but I think they have a pretty big variety. The redeeming quality for me is a little "Sounds Like" tag thingy in most of the posts that quickly tells you whether it's up your alley.
Where do you live? Do you have iOS? Not sure if it is on other platforms, but Songza is like a Pandora but with a collection of 'curated' playlists based on the time of day, mood, or activity you are engaged in. Something about choosing from their massive selection of curated playlists has made it really great for discovery for me lately.
Ah, I see. Well, I'll bet that the possibilities are going to open up sooner rather than later with an increase in Android handsets before even iOS. I bet Android would be far better for hacking together access to online streaming services that don't serve your region due to licensing issues than iOS will ever be. iOS likes to play cozy with the giant media content companies that withhold content to various regions due to license restrictions.
Look up the touring schedule for bands that you like, and see who they play shows with. Look through their discography and see if they have any split EPs or collaborations with other bands. If you find yourself enjoying a lot of bands on a particular music label, check out the others, small labels are usually based on groups of friends that enjoy each others' music. I also use lastfm, bandcamp, and various subreddits. turntable.fm and mumuplayer.com are great ways to find new music if you can get a few people to join you. It's like going to a party and rotating stereo control, except you don't have to all be in one place, and the software manages everything so you don't have to plan things and constantly plug/unplug devices. Some friends of mine are a fan of generating a Pandora station with one song suggestion from everyone in the room, it usually generates an eclectic mix but it's all fairly major artists. I torrent most of my music on private trackers, so if I find myself downloading a lot from a particular user, I like to go through that user's upload page and snatch things that look interesting.
I work in a college radio station and am usually fortunate enough to have the music come to me or hear about stuff from other dj's. Outside of that, last.fm radio, and websites such as Pitchfork and Stereogum.
I am a really big fan of We Are Hunted. They have an "emerging" chart that introduces me to a lot of new stuff, and their instant playlist feature has shown me a lot of great tunes, as well. Also, Spotify. If you're willing to go down the "related artists" rabbit hole on there, you can discover some really great music. I never would have heard some of my favorite music from the past year if not for that. It won't all necessarily be new music, mind you, but a large portion of it should be new to you.