I used to discover a lot of new music on Youtube, actually.
If you watched a music video you liked, the algorithm recommended related stuff, but also threw you a curveball with <1000 views once in a while.
I stumbled upon a lot of great bands that way.
But nowadays, 3 videos in it’ll all be AI slop, so I’m open to new ideas and willing to pay for a service, too.
I take the brute approach: get music packs bundling all releases for a day, load the albums into a lightweight player, filtered by genre. Anything sounding nice results in a
beet import.By purchasing new video games.
Like 90% of my tracks in Spotify are videogame soundtracks.
internet radio.
Bandcamp new and notable
Bands I like touring with other bands
Record labels I like put out new stuff
spotify discover weekly. its been so finely tuned over the years that 90% of them are at least put in my liked playlist, and maybe 50% into my favorites playlist
i used to follow this “greatest _____ album” tournement thing on facebook, but stopped doing that because i dont use facebook anymore
you can also do the 1001albumsgenerator, which will give you a random album a day from the book “1001 albums you must hear before you die”
- Pitchfork and AOTY websites are is usually good. I’ll look at Last FM webpage too on the music tab to see what’s new.
- I’m subscribed to Qobuz and get a daily and a weekly playlist that bring things up that I’d never heard of.
From shows I watch and games I play. I don’t really go out of my way to search for music. If I find something interesting, it’s usually on YouTube.
Been a supporter since he started.
Rival Suns
Spiritbox
Kanaan
Love Honey - (Rolling 7s - holy shit is this good!{if you are me, which I am})
Psychedelic Porn Crumpets
Sick Joy
Vance Joy
Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers
Tiger cub
Mammoth
Chokecherry
Ren - (Hi Ren is fucking powerful, watch the video for it and prepare for a wild ride. Earbuds/headset recommended)
Sludgemother
Slomosa
Halestorm
Avalone stone
The Warning
The Glorious sons
Velvet Two Stripe - favourite song is Catch 22
Servo
JPNZGRLS/Hotel Mira (name change)
Typically I have bands I like, I go to their shows and I will sometimes discover other bands by means of opening acts etc. Or I will read up about a band, see what other projects members have worked on, are affiliated with, or see what bands would play as openers to those bands.
Sometimes there’s a show with some band I don’t really know about and someone invites me along and then I might like that band, and then I have a whole new band to learn about in regards to members, openers, other projects etc. etc.
Can also do the same thing with the label a band is signed to, check out what other stuff is signed, if I like it I can do the same song and dance exploring which other music that band is linked to.
And then of course sometimes something just falls into my lap and then I just listen to that.
Can’t believe I haven’t seen SoundCloud mentioned. They play ads every couple songs but I listen to 1-2 hour edm mixes so it’s actually not bad. They have a couple recommended playlists based on recent songs you’ve liked. Not every song lands, but there are great indie songs and remixes and stuff out there you can find.
Two great blogs I’ve found through Mastodon:
Both blogs have an RSS feed, and they post on Mastodon when a new article is up. Those two have accounted for almost everything I’ve bought on Bandcamp recently. Mastodon in general, and the #bandcampfriday hashtag, are great sources.
I also started buying physical media lately. Lemme tell ya, the guy behind the counter at the record store knows everything. EVERYTHING. All bands. Who toured with whom. He is the human scrobbler. Get to know him.
I do it by playing the long game.
Back in 2007 I embarked on a three year radio production degree, and the costs associated with that, all so I could start my own radio show 18 years later where I get people to suggest songs and I play them. And many of them I’ve never heard of.
Last artist I found was because of tracks played on the Sirius Bluesville channel.
Bamdcamp daily, people i follow on bandcamp, warez websites and features and collaborations
I go through my kids’ playlists.
I ask friends and family to make me mix CDs instead of giving gifts.
I listen to local independent radio (Chirp in my case).
I carpool with coworkers sometimes and have them run the aux.
I ask people to tell me what their favorite song is.
I go to concerts early enough to see the opening acts, even if I’ve never heard of them.
And I participate in threads like this.
