How do you find new music? - asking for a dinosaur friend...

[Kutusov]

Do you have a specific app/service/whatever that gets you great recommendations for music you didn't know about before?

I just play music files stored on an HD through MusicBee, usually on shuffle, and haven't even considered streaming services. What I've noticed is that I get to new music less and less, mainly because I no longer go for a drink and friends interested in music are now non-existent.

MusicBee has a plugin to Last.FM but that wasn't working at some point and I disabled it. I turned it on again a couple of days ago and it is working now. I'm considering if it is worth the pro subscription for the recommendations alone.

I hear Tidal is great at recommending stuff but I'm guessing I would have to listen through there so it can have my preferences? I don't want to stream music, I much rather play my flac files...

Roon is supposed to be good too and if it had the possibility of a theatre mode on a second screen I would pay its subscription. The way I have things set up, my main monitor is for work related stuff and I have the TV showing what's playing as a second screen. This is really important to me.

So how do you guys go about this?

 

[lc6]

I currently have a trial of Amazon Music HD / Ultra HD using Fire Stick 4k Max. It streams FLAC files up to 24-bit/192kHz (you can enable the display of quality info), depending on the source material and capabilities of the playback device. I have been going over dozens of past articles of a well known audiophile magazine. Most of those are about exhibits at various audio industry shows in which which exhibitors use sample recordings to showcase their systems. Whenever an artist and song is mentioned, I locate it on the streaming service, listen to it and, if I like it, add it to my playlist. But in the process, I also listen to other tracks on the same album and other albums by the same artist. This has vastly expanded my listening universe beyond the CDs I own.
To give a few concrete examples, I recently tried Terje Isungset - Fading Sun and really got me into his full-range and ambient "ice" music. Similarly, Youn Sun Nah - Asturias got me listening to her many other songs and albums; she is an incredible singer and the recordings are great. Last night, I enjoyed Roger Waters' entire Amused To Death album; the Q-sound effects and dynamics were mind-blowing -- the sound field seemed to approach almost the entire hemi-sphere in front of me, despite only 2 speakers.
So I recommend this approach to find new music.

 

[dpturner]

college radio. same as it ever was...

 

[bluefuzz]

So how do you guys go about this?

Spotify is orders of magnitude better at recommending good stuff than any other service I've used (including Tidal). You do have to remember to save the tracks/albums you like to your library and then actually play those tracks. Listening to playlists doesn't contribute to your recommendations.

 

[JeremyFife]

Keep your ears open
I find BBC 6 Music really valuable - varied playlist (not really classical) and keeps me up to date ... other Radio stations are available and it's good to step outside your comfort zone too.
I don't find Amazon to be helpful for me (personal preference) but I did like the suggestions that Qobuz threw at me when I was a subscriber so it's all worth a go.
Live music is fab too ... anything and everything

Good hunting

 

[bluefuzz]

I don't trust streaming algorithms. They are good at giving you more of what you have, but I'm looking to newer and different music that I don't have. They're not very good for that.

Then you're not doing it right. Rarely a day goes by where Spotify doesn't recommend me something good I've not heard before. Often from artists or genres that are not already in my library. But I do have very broad tastes ...

 

[Thomas savage]

I don't trust streaming algorithms. They are good at giving you more of what you have, but I'm looking to newer and different music that I don't have. They're not very good for that.

The best way I get new music is referrals from regular people. The thread on this site, "What are we listening to right now .....", started in 2016 by @Thomas savage, has proven to be absolutely invaluable.

What are we listening to right now..

as it says on the tin, music we are enjoying or planning to listen too today.. i hope we all post our music here, all genres all formats so we can share our passions and learn from each other.

www.audiosciencereview.com

If you like classical-form music, the ElitestClassical page on reddit is interesting, too.

Classical Music for the Übermensch • r/ElitistClassical

This subreddit is dedicated to unearthing great, but lesser-known, composed music.

old.reddit.com

Good luck! Jim

That's why I fort to keep the music threads as integrated as possible, as like you rightly say , new music is a gift and really you often need drastically different individuals and tastes to get you beyond your own limits and into something new for you ..

Humans do that for each other if your open , there's a good lesson that goes beyond music in this too .

 

[Vini darko]

Bandcamp is worth checking out.

 

[Andretti60]

Pandora Radio (in "surprise me" mode) - AFAIK available only in US
NPR All Songs Considered
NPR Tiny Desk
YouTube (actually lot of discoveries, besides funny video of cats)
Bandcamp

 

[DMill]

I’m a big fan of sirius XM. Find a few stations that are in the genre you’re interested in and discover new artists while driving.

 

[Midwest Blade]

+++ on Pandora, best music discovery of all the services. I had Pandora for years, tried a couple of others, Spotify and Tidal but now all in on Amazon. Pandora was the only set and forget worth listening. Oh well, entirely happy with Amazon.

 

[ZolaIII]

Try with Spotify (more for a discovery purposes) and dig in trough forums and such especially regarding local artists and performers. Net radio's aren't bad way for discovering either but still rather limited at least in my case. Lots of people out there searching same as you do.
I am currently rebuilding my music server which is based on old laptop and I come across a lot of stuff I used to listen when I whose really young which I forgot about and it does bring back memories, along with it I discovered some forgotten entirely and missed by me. It's a long and good journey.
I use JRiver as a player and stream by DLNA to my Yamaha amplifier and it work's like that for me.

 

[egellings]

Streaming, mostly, then college radio.

 

[odarg64]

College radio
WFMU https://wfmu.org/

 

[Miercoles2022]

Go through the set list of any major music festival. Make a spreadsheet. Give every act a chance. Listen to one or two of their songs from Spotify. Take notes. Go back to ones you like. Make a playlist. This is how I’ve discovered new music over the past several years. The kids are always coming up with new, interesting music.

 

[DMill]

Go through the set list of any major music festival. Make a spreadsheet. Give every act a chance. Listen to one or two of their songs from Spotify. Take notes. Go back to ones you like. Make a playlist. This is how I’ve discovered new music over the past several years. The kids are always coming up with new, interesting music.

Agree. There is some very good music my daughter has introduced me to. And also some real shit. But I nod politely and change back to something we agree upon. She is far more open to my tastes than I am to hers. Perhaps because she grew up hearing Supertramp but I did not grow up hearing kanye

 

[Zaireeka]

- Spotify suggestions, which are often on point.
- This guy : https://www.youtube.com/c/theneedledrop
- Bancamp!
- Reading hifi gear reviews where the songlist is detailed (and hopefully more diverse and interesting than the same old female-jazz-vocalist soup).
- Topic about music on different forums, including ASR...

Thanks @Andretti60 , I almost forgot: NPR and KEXP

Stubling upon this live during COVID for example was a small miracle for me:

 

[Kutusov]

Wow, that's a lot more replies than I was expecting!

Regarding Spotify, recommendations are based on the lists you put in, right? I'm going to take a look at that, where I live radio stations are very poor and at the very least I could use it on the car.

I used to have Pandora ages ago! Going to check that out also. And obviously the threads about music.

A bit surprised no one mentioned Roon as that seems to get a lot of love in some other corners of the internet... no one cares for it here?

 

[Chrispy]

I've used Pandora and Spotify, but to get the best recommendations IMO you need to fill out the playlists/stations with your preferences so the algorithm has something to work with....

 

[Bleib]

I download a lot, listen to up to 10 new albums per week. Although not always through them all because most of it is not great.
This way I also end up buying quite a bit, especially smaller artists that need support.

Also YT recommendations. And if one band is good it's often a good idea to check into what other band members have done, sometimes this is a way of finding many good new bands.

And of course... movies can have great music