Best Ways to Find New Music |
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- Radio (FM, Internet, XM, etc..)
- Online Streaming (YouTube, Spotify, Rhapsody, etc...)
- Magazines/Blogs (Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, Spin, etc...)
- Similar Artists (Allmusic.com, Pandora...)
- Festivals/Concerts (Coachella, Glastonbury, etc...)
Internet Radio (Genre Neutral)
Internet Radio (Genre Specific)
Sometimes it is nice to not listen to radio that is computer generated, so you can find lots of real radio stations that have internet streams.
- OnlineRadioStations.com - browse real internet radio stations by genre or location. Save favorites.
Magazines / Blogs
There are many music magazines and blogs specific to genres that are great for finding new music. Do an online search for music magazines/blogs, including what genre you are most interested in. You can also subscribe to newsletters of RSS feeds to receive notifications about new releases. Take the reviews with a grain of salt. Reviews are potentially very biased opinions of a single writer and convince you not to listen to an album you might end up loving. Here are some popular magazines/blogs:
- Rolling Stone - magazine
- Pitchfork - Blogs
- Rap Radar - Rap Blogs
- Stereogum - Indie Music Blogs
Online Streaming (Free Version available)
- Grooveshark - search tons of artists and save to your library or playlists (to stream). Most artists are available (a few major ones are removed like Beatles and Pink Floyd). You can also embed a playable playlist from grooveshark on your website.
- Spotify (Audio ads in free version) - similar to grooveshark. choose songs to stream. make playlists, etc...
- YouTube - watch videos. play videos similar to videos you've watched. make video playlists.
Featured Playlists
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Similar Artists
One of the best ways to discover music that appeals to you is to search on sites for "Similar Artists". Allmusic.com is typically good for listing similar artists. Many other sites offer the same feature (Grooveshark, Rhapsody, ...). Sometimes it can be misleading when it is just based on what people that listened to this artist also listened to (or purchased). You can also search for compilations that your favorite artists appear on and sometimes find similar artists you may like.
- Allmusic - more intelligently listed (you can also look at top artists of specific genres).
- Pandora - radio of similar artists to one or more artists
- Grooveshark - click and easily listen to songs you can select of similar artists
Festivals / Concerts
Festivals can be a great way to find new music. If you look at the lineup for festivals that include bands similar to your tastes, a lot of times you can find great bands. Even if you can't go to the festival you can still look at the lineup.
- Music Festival Junkies - Music Festival Guide
- Coachella - Festival in California
- Glastonbury - Festival in England
Miscellaneous
- Digster.fm - featured playlists that can be played in Rhapsody, Spotify, or Rdio
- Album of the Year - pulls album ratings from many sources and has averaged rating
- Listen 4 Good - User created playlists for best of the year, best new songs, best of all time lists, etc. with embedded audio/video (Profits to charity)
- WE7 - Type what you want to listen to and it will give you songs to play.
- MixPod - Community of playlists. Create and share your own playlists.
Music Purchasing Sites
As the music purchasing sites have the most incentive to find music you want, it's tough not to mention them.
- fairsharemusic.com - Download site - Portion of the profits are given to charity
- Rhapsody - subscription for streaming music as well as downloads. Works with Digster playlists.
Personal Favorites
- Rhapsody - subscription for streaming music as well as downloads. Works with Digster playlists.
- NME Radio - British radio station (mainly rock)
- KCRW Radio - California radio station (eclectic music)
- Grooveshark - search tons of artists and save to your library or playlists (to stream). Most artists are available (a few major ones are removed like Beatles and Pink Floyd). You can also embed a playable playlist from grooveshark on your website.