I am a passionate listener of music, and I am the type of person who snatches the aux in the car or starts playing music in the house without the need for an invitation. And sometimes people like what I play, and then I hear a lot of “who is this?” and the follow up question is typically “how’d you find them?” So without further ado, here is my official guide to finding music -- good music -- on the internet.
The internet is so vast that the main problem is not finding access to music, it’s sorting through the crap to find the gems. One suggestion I have is to structure your thoughts around music to focus not on individual songs, but on longer projects and discographies as a whole. Here’s what I mean: The next time you hear a song you like, instead of just liking that song and listening to it solely over and over again, find out what album it is from and listen to the rest of the album as a whole. Artists often articulate a cohesive sound throughout a project, so there’s a good chance that if you like one song, you’ll like others on the album, as well. Plus, within the context of a full-length musical work, you may find new meaning and enjoyment in the songs(s) you knew before.
To take this process a step further, if you like an artist’s album, check out their full discovery. If you were attracted to a recent hit, look at their old stuff, see where their roots lie; if your memory was sparked by an old classic, see what the artist has done recently. Think about it: By hearing one song you like, you have just opened yourself up to hours of potentially incredible music, all made easily available at any moment due to the wonders of the internet.
Pandora internet radio provides a fantastic starting place for using this method, but it is not the only streaming service with a lot to offer. Spotify is perhaps the most popular, allowing you the freedom to create your own playlists but with an added social media twist. Spotify allows you to connect with people you know and will tell you what your friends are listening to or have been listening to recently. Do you have that one friend with great taste in music? Odds are he/she has a Spotify you can follow for constant recommendations. Apple Music does a phenomenal job of allowing you to search by artist, alerting the listener to not just releases under the artist’s name, but also other peoples’ music they featured in. So, say you’re a big Beyonce fan; you can easily find every song (available on Apple Music, that is) that Beyonce has sung in, opening the door to unheard Queen Bey hooks and verses.
Another method for finding great music is to be smartphone savvy. First of all, the Shazam app that tells you what song you’re listening to is one of the greatest inventions of the 21st century and should be owned by every music lover. Additionally, social media can be the best way to stay in the loop on new releases from your favorite artists. Often fan accounts of certain artists can be useful for staying notified of that person/group’s activity, but the best accounts follow genres of music as a whole. So, say you’re a fan of hip hop; following a Twitter account like Hip Hop News Daily is a fantastic way to hear about all the new music that’s coming out, hopefully from artists you like already and ones you have not heard of before.
Finding new music is easier than it sounds. Give these tips a try and you're sure to find something you like.
