Top 10 Ways to Discover New Music
Posted on 03. Nov, 2008 by Kyle Judkins in Internet Tools
Most of my life I have strived to find new and interesting music, but I am often far too busy to really dig deep and find new artists everyday. Now that I am done with college and have a real job, I find that I have even less time to find new music or even stay up to date with all of the new bands.
I have, however, found some great resources that keep me in the loop with minimal time and effort.
Pandora
Pandora is an easy to use music discovery website that has been a favorite of mine for some time. Pandora allows you to create “stations” by putting in your favorite band or bands. Then, Pandora will play songs from that artist and artists that have a similar sound to your main artist. I like Pandora for its no frills approach, as it doesn’t throw a bunch of extra stuff at you.
Last.fm
Last.fm functions much the same way as Pandora, but focuses much more on the social network side of things. Of all the websites and services on the list, I use Last.fm the most. I have found that it has a huge library of tracks that doesn’t stop at the end of mainstream. Their library has exposed me to lots of unknown and underground gems.
StumbleAudio
StumbleAudio was covered in my previous post Discover New Music with StumbleAudio. It is a great service that is easy to use, but it has a smaller library that is mainly focuses around smaller unknown artists.
The Hype Machine
The Hype Machine is a very unique website, in that, it aggregates all kinds of MP3 blogs from across the Internet into one place. This way you can find out what bands everyone else is talking about and discover them for yourself.
Musicovery
Musicovery presents a much different experience than most of the other services on this list. At Musicovery, you choose genre, mood and timeframe in order to discover new music. This is definitely a very unique way to discover new music and is worth checking out.
Skreemr
Skreemr is an MP3 search engine that returns webpages where MP3’s of the artist you searched are posted. This allows you to easily listen to your favorite song by that artist. Skreemr also gives you the option to search for similar artists.
iLike
iLike is a music social network that is similar to Last.fm, but iLike integrates with your iTunes through a sidebar. This allows you to easily get recommendations from iLike and find more people with similar tastes in order to find find new artists.
thesixtyone
thesixtyone allows its users to “bump” up tracks by different artists. It functions in a way that is very similar to Digg, but it is only for music. This way you can find great songs and great artists by using the knowledge of the other users on the site.
Amazon
Amazon is a site that just about everyone should be familiar with. Back before I knew all about the sites listed above, I would go to Amazon and see what else customers bought when they bought an album I liked. If you keep doing this, you start going down a rabbit hole and can find some great music. The little snippets that Amazon lets you listen to provide you with a great way to sample the artists as you come across them.
Blogs
What list of places to find music would be complete without blogs? There are lots of great music blogs out there that keep you up to date with current artists and events. I subscribe to Stereogum and Pitchfork in my RSS, and I highly recommend them.
Where else do you discover new music?
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109 Responses to “Top 10 Ways to Discover New Music”
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- Top 10 Ways to Discover New Music
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aidan
07. Dec, 2008
great articles for music lovers!
Webber
16. May, 2009
try out http://www.jamwee.com <—looks cool
Mark McIntosh
15. Dec, 2008
Don’t forget Gnoosic http://www.gnoosic.com/ and Musicmesh http://musicmesh.net/. Start on Gnoosic and find a new artist, then go to Musicmesh and see a video of some of their songs and who they connect to in similar sound/style.
Alex M
16. Dec, 2008
What a brilliant sight, just the job for music lovers.
michael
04. Jan, 2009
here is a site with over 40 free songs the mars blue music arcive
http://www.marsblue.moogo.com
-enjoy
Josh
09. Jan, 2009
http://www.metacritic.com should be #1 on this list.
songza.com gets an honorable mention
David
10. Jan, 2009
Another approach to discovering new music is psychology-based Music Patterns (http://signalpatterns.com/music_survey). It’s based on research by author Dan Levitin (This is Your Brain on Music, World in Six Songs).
You get a customized playlist based on music that people like you listen to, continually updated as the system finds more ‘people like you’ based on your specified music preferences via an scientifically-based audio-based survey.
Deviant
10. Jan, 2009
Finetune is a good one too.
sealy mattresses
14. Jan, 2009
Fantastic list, I’ve been using Pandora on my iphone ever since the app released (its convenient if you just here a song on the radio and want to get somethin similar) but i’ll be sure to keep an eye out for some of these other ones.
Joe
19. Jan, 2009
I use http://www.mp3powersearch.com
anonymous
21. Jan, 2009
also http://fizy.org could be good choice too…
steinway
08. Feb, 2009
Some great sites to help you discover new music. that’s exactly i wanted!! give a thumbs up on su!!
Sonsum
26. Feb, 2009
I love Pandora and with the iPhone app you can discover new artists (and songs) on the go!
lennie coleman
01. Mar, 2009
what about rateyourmusic.com???
4ntisocial
06. Mar, 2009
Personally, I really like the Mixview feature on the new Zune software. Kinda bulky, but it does provide a lot of new stuff for you to look at, especially if you have a Zune Pass, which I don’t.
yeryer
10. Mar, 2009
RateYourMusic.com is definitley way ahead of all those.
Imho.
The Reviewist
12. Mar, 2009
I have been using Pandora for years now to find new songs and groups. I love that place. I have not kept up on the news like I should, but my understanding was that it was having some financial difficulties. Is this still the case, or has that been resolved?
Kyle Judkins
12. Mar, 2009
I think they have been resolved for now, but it all depends on the royalties the record companies are asking for.
dan
13. Mar, 2009
get onto http://www.spotify.com
it’s going to be the next huge one. if it isn’t already.
Os 10 melhores jeitos de descubrir novas músicas « Muitolegal’s Blog
16. Mar, 2009
[...] Para visualizar, clique aqui. Para visualizar a versão traduzida para o português, clique [...]
Alex
30. Mar, 2009
I’ve discovered lots of new bands and artists by using the “stumble trough myspace” function in Stumble Upon and well 9 out of 10 new bands i hear are really cool.
helena
31. Mar, 2009
much thanks for the stumbleaudio and hypemachine links!
Kyle Judkins
31. Mar, 2009
No problem!
Don't Click My Adsense
01. Apr, 2009
When I run out of songs, i would normally search youtube for music cover …. there are some nice songs that people are singing and sharing.
Mark
02. Apr, 2009
Occasi.com is a search engine for musicians, bands and entertainers – a great source to explore new talent.
James Bond
13. Apr, 2009
justhearit.com is better than skreemr
Tim Brando
18. Apr, 2009
good post…i just got a beta invite for a new website that looks like it’s going to be a music discovery/networking site… http://www.jamwee.com. signed up for it as it looks like it’s going to be pretty good.
Natalie
18. Apr, 2009
i like Muzicons =)
http://muzicons.com/
Kevin
21. Apr, 2009
I personally love using http://www.jango.com
Schobbejak!
28. Apr, 2009
Be sure to check out http://www.thenewworck.com!
It’s a mixtape netlabel with all kinds of music!
All mixtapes for free!
Chris
28. Apr, 2009
My favorite mp3 site is http://listen.grooveshark.com/ They’ve got every song imaginable. Plus you can make playlists and it has an autoplay feature so that you can discover new artists based on the music in your playlist.
Simon May
06. May, 2009
Ww. Pitchfork. Can’t understand why people like that site.
Matt
10. Jun, 2009
I haven’t read all the comments so apologies if someone has already said it but put Spotify on the list. Its great. Can search for a huge selection of different music and listen to a random selection chosen by Genre, oh and its free.
http://www.spotify.com
Kim
15. Jun, 2009
It may be old-fashioned, but this radio station does an amazing job of showcasing new music. And all you have to do is listen.
http://www.xpn.org
6tunes
17. Jul, 2009
Try out http://www.6tunes.com – and let us know what you think, we are in beta and trying to improve the product!
How To Find New Music On The Internet | Ryan Cannon Ray's Digital Life
17. Aug, 2009
[...] just overwhelm you with a ton of cruddy websites and ones that just are no good. Lists similar to THIS one here. This makes it hard for you to pull out the good ones from the bad. Hence why I’m [...]
Milli
23. Aug, 2009
“Dear Pandora Visitor,
We are deeply, deeply sorry to say that due to licensing constraints, we can no longer allow access to Pandora for listeners located outside of the U.S. We will continue to work diligently to realize the vision of a truly global Pandora, but for the time being we are required to restrict its use. We are very sad to have to do this, but there is no other alternative. ”
jp
05. Sep, 2009
hey here’s a good one: go to a local show! support your local scene! check out the out-of-town bands that your local bands bring to town. just a thought. maybe im wrong.
Filot
07. Sep, 2009
New Mp3 Search engine.
Listen or Download!
http://www.mp3searchmusic.com/index.php
Charles McEnerney
19. Sep, 2009
Hi, all…I’m working on a new idea called Musicians for Music 2.0, where I’m aiming to have musicians who have made a successful living through the business models of the last 50 years contribute to a new kind of venture fund to help all the new music discovery projects until musicians can create sustainable models for the next 50 years.
Would love to hear your thoughts about the idea since you are clearly all passionate music folks! http://bit.ly/m4m2vf
best, Charlie
thecure
21. Sep, 2009
Nice! Very useful!
there’s also http://www.thesonicfission.com that’s just starting up but looks pretty good
mp3 dinle
27. Sep, 2009
truly a wonderful expression. Dear admin, I would send my thanks here. Very helpful
Shirl
08. Oct, 2009
I have a music blog for indie art. http://bonhommeandpeacebone.blogspot.com/
Sebastian
12. Oct, 2009
This website is AMAZING FOR discovering new music
http://www.grokmusic.com
Maurits Kaptein
17. Oct, 2009
Got one to add to the list: http://www.6tunes.com/player.html – log in with your facebook account and listen to your friends music!
Jon
09. Nov, 2009
Try DecibelBlog.com. They’ve got reviews on all sorts of new artists.
- Jon
Glitch
27. Dec, 2009
http://www.BitCandy.com has been my choice for discovering new indie, modern, indie pop, electronic music. They are more like a music filter for indie, electronic, alternative filtering all the music blogs and tastemaker sites. I discovered The XX and Florence and the Machine there.
Calvin
30. Dec, 2009
http://tooroads.blogspot.com/ blog that updates daily and always has pretty obscure bands. Though they do feature prominent ones. Either way check it out.
Patty
04. Jan, 2010
I am addicted to http://blip.fm – sort of a twitter for audiophiles. Great group of people, amazing music, follow people who like what you like. Try it, you’ll be hooked
Kyle Judkins of Lost In Technology is our latest Famous Bloggers Club member | New Media Bloggers
07. Jan, 2010
[...] My most famous post would be, Top 10 Ways to Discover New Music. This post went viral on StumbleUpon and has seen over 500,000 page views in the time it’s been [...]
Jwall
11. Jan, 2010
grooveshark.com is really awesome. you can search music and create your own playlists over and over. they also have a radio feature if you dont know what to listen to.
asdfh
16. Jan, 2010
8tracks.com is the new love of my life. move over, pandora. tons of people have uploaded mixes from punk to jazz to hip hop to…pretty much anything you can think of. go explore for yourself, it’s amazing.
Anders
22. Jan, 2010
Spotify is awesome, HQ, lots of music, save your playlist and much more
http://www.spotify.com