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I ask my friends. Well, friend.
Honestly, the recommendations from Spotify are often terrible, but occasionally give me something I like. I believe that free Spotify still has recommendations, does it not?
The other thing is radio. Yes, radio! Find a station you like and stream it, since they're all streaming now as well as broadcasting.
I watch Vinny and see what music he mentions during stream.
I buy CDs 5 for a dollar at a thrift store, and check out YT if I'm looking for something different.
I go to the record store with my friends and we just grab cheap CDs that look cool and then listen to them in the car after. We've found some interesting things by doing that.
I like to listen to internet radio. There are plenty of stations for different genres.
If you're on Linux, shortwave even allows you to immediately save a local recording if you like a track.
Any suggestions?
I'll be on Linux Soon™️ so I'll check that out when I cross the bridge.
Personally I really like jungletrain.net
No need to wait for Linux to listen to internet radio. With individual song metadata. Soma.fm. Bagel Radio for guitary stuff. 9128.live for amazing Ambient mixes.
There's also NTS.live, Lyl Radio, Dublab etc... but they don't always show per-track metadata.
Or right here on Fediverse. Just search for Music communities. I already found a few new artists here.
Gigs. Either just buying tickets to random local venues. Our go see your favourite artists live, but make sure you get there early enough to see the openers.
I've discovered so many amazing bands because they opened for bands I already knew I liked.
If you can't physically get to gigs then you can even just look up who your favourite artists are touring with, that will give you a pretty good sense of them being similar.
It's always a treat when the support band is better than the one you came for
I wish the bigger international bands i listen to would come to my country often. But then it would cost a lot.
But I get you though. I am friends with a weekend band that also has friends with other more "serious" underground bands. Been going to more and more gigs and helping out and actually discovered more songs and bands like this.
Bandcamp, I follow a bunch of labels that've done releases I like and have set up a bunch of genre tags, I'll go through every so often and go through releases, see what jumps out at me.
Otherwise, there's a few reviewers I've come to trust over the years, my partner likes angrymetalguy and both follow Rez Metal Podcast. Otherwise it's forums, Lemmy, reddit or other online community.
Cancelling Spotify will not only save you money, it will help to save music. They're shafting smaller artists, paying peanuts to the rest, and flooding the platform with AI slop so they don't have to pay as much to real artists. Fuck Spotify.
Bandcamp and Soundcloud are what I mainly use.
Bandcamp and SoundCloud does sound better for smaller artists as I understand. Alas I still listen to big artists.
Edit: I do still let in newsletters from an artist on bandcamp, Jim Guthrie. I think he did the OST for FTL game. Should check him again. And go from there for discovering new artists on bandcamp
Graphical way of searching by a given artist and the results are shown based on who is most similar (closer to center) and who is least similar (farthest from center). Love searching this way.
I've also used YouTube to search for a familar artist and then I'll go through the suggestions to see if I find anything interesting.
I recommend Radio Paradise! It's an independent online radio stream with a great, eclectic selection and no ads, except the occasional reminder that they are donation financed. It's honestly one if not the best radio stream there is.
Jumping on to also recommend Chirp, the Chicago Independent Radio Project. Live volunteer DJs, no ads.
Thanks, will check it out!
NPR tiny desk concert
Rate Your Music is a great resource for discovery, if a bit snobby.
There is also last.fm. I would have suggested libre.fm but they are no longer open to registrations it seems
This would replace the "algorithmic" component of spotify, I would still suggest some other options (sharing stuff in your social circle, seeing who opens for your favourite groups etc.)
Oh yeah I knew of last.fm but haven't checked it out in years. Pretty sure I checked Spotify to scrobble to it.
Have to see how to scrobble to last.fm when I cut out Spotify and idk play local music on my phone and computer.
Listenbrainz is an open-source alternative to Last.fm: https://listenbrainz.org/
But I've used Last.fm for 20 years so I definitely recommend it.
I haven't seen anyone mention Pandora but it's still around. I kept using it even when I was paying for spotify. Over and over again Pandora has played new (to me) artists that have really caught my ear. I listen to a lot of different things and it's been responsible for probably 50% over the last 15 years that I've been using it. The ads are less invasive than spotify and can be easily removed with uBlock origin in the web player. Can't recommend it highly enough.
Internet radio (especially soma.fm) and reading blogs (Hearing Things, Ether Diver).
Another vote for internet radio. Adding Bagel Radio for guitary stuff. Oh and 9128.live for amazing Ambient mixes.
oh hey ambient mixes! thanks for recommendation, I’ll check it out
KEXP is great and listener funded radio. In Canada we have CKUA in Alberta that is independent and listener funded as well.
University radio is also a great place to find new artists.
Some of the live performances on KEXP have been fantastic, too
“Some” is a vast understatement.
The way I have done it for the last several years and it has brought me amazing new dimensions of sound experience...
Find an artist that you like, look them up and find out who produced the album and other group members.
Then do a little Wiki research into the discography and solo work of each of those performers or producers.
Follow up on interesting threads, and you'll be exposed to all kinds of amazing new stuff.
Although I'm definitely out of this listening phase now, an example that worked for me was I got very obsessed with Talking Heads band. Looked them up and found out that Brian Eno produced them.
Started to notice from other bands I looked up that Brian Eno was mysteriously involved in so many of them.
Started to look into all the bands that Brian Eno produced and worked with over the years, and then started to look into the music of Brian Eno.
Starts to give you a realization that the true talent in a band is generally not the performers, but rather the veterans with decades of experienced who guide them.
Another example is Buckethead, started to see this dude buckethead appearing on literally hundreds of different album credits! Did a lot of research into the guy and the various bands he's worked with, and that opened hundreds of new experiences to me.
This comment is getting a little outside of my original point, which is to actually do some research on your own, go out and find the lesser-known works of artists you love.
Basically just follow different Wikipedia links, and then when you find an album in a discography that you think might be interesting, look it up.
Most local libraries have CDs. The library is about as far as you can get from big tech because they are made to serve you instead of make a profit.
For discovery— do you have a community radio station. There’s one near me that cycles through different genres and DJs. And just talk to people. Make it a conversation starter when ever you meet someone.
Really should step into a library again. Last I went to one is during college 10 or more years ago lol.
Good suggestion on local community radio. I'll have to see if there's one in my country/state.
I went to one for the first time in 8 years a couple of weeks ago. Next time I go I'll be enjoying the little café they have and joining in on their creative writing course!
I didn't realise how many little events and classes happen in my local library, and most of them are either completely free or cost next to nothing.
IMO there is no definitive mainstream any more. Hasn't been for a decade. There's just too much music out there for you to know all the "popular" stuff.
I don't think OP is talking about mainstream music. I think OP is talking about mainstream music streaming services (i.e. Spotify)
This is pretty true and a I love it.
For all the ills of social media the internet has been an absolute godsend to musicians and music fans alike. We can find genres and sounds in clicking around curiously that most of us just wouldn't have ever been exposed to without the internet.
FWIW I try to purposefully spend some time "exploring" music on YT, Spotify, and bandcamp, and I go out to local venues a lot. I'm a little older and having a wide library of good music helps me feel "in touch" with the world.
I have this site bookmarked, this seems like a good place to post it: https://www.gnoosic.com/
There are communities dedicated to music on Lemmy, though it won't be personalized recommendations, you can still find pretty cool artists. I also share music with friends : you share them one music you like, they send back a music of their own. At some points, a friend of mine organized a Discord server to create 5-songs playlists on a theme each week, which we listened to and vote for our favorite each week. It was a very cool way of discovering new bands !
Welp. Spotify. Lol. I don't listen to anything mainstream, so I eventually get recommended new things I like.
Other than that, I sometimes listen to Twitch DJ streams, and there's occasionally songs that really catch my attention that way.
Following a curated list of people on Bandcamp and SoundCloud.
Listening to mixes and hearing something I like then tracking down what it is.
You could also check things like the beatport or juno charts to see what other people are buying in specific genres, just don't buy your music from them.
Listen to radio?
Depending on the music you are seeking really. DJ or electronic influenced SoundCloud and Mixcloud have free options. If Hype Machine is still active it aggregates new music blogs across all genres.
An article from a browser search may hold some other options you find suitable:
I enjoy a few if it comes my way but it's not really my wheelhouse. Thanks for the suggestion!
Recently, most of the music I've found has been something the Youtube algorithm has decided I need to listen to. Most recently it's been the Andrew Sisters and before that it was SailNorth.
Other than that, ListenBrainz does a pretty good job of suggesting new music to listen to.
What's the difference between musicbrainz and listenbrainz?
MusicBrainz is an open source database of music. ListenBrainz is an open source service that captures your listening habits, if you've configured your music player (or Spotify) to use the service. It's similar in nature to last.fm's scrobbling.
ListenBrainz has a feature where once a week it will build a pair of playlists for you. One is stuff it is pretty sure you will like (based off of what tracks you have favorited) and the other is more... experimental. Stuff it's not so sure you'll like but is similar to things you have listened to and liked in the past.
Ooh that's pretty neat. I'll have to see how to set up listenbrainz.
Internet radio
In Australia (and around the world if you are streaming online) triple j is the absolute best for new music. It's a public run radio station directly aimed at young people in Australia but some of us old farts still like listening to new music.