How to find 'non-commercial' Artists?

[PortaStudio]

Hello eveybody,

I have listened to alot of western popular music (including jazz). When I grew tired of this I got into asian, manly japanese popular music. Later I began listening more to classical music of all varieties. Now I am kind of looking for things more off the beaten path.

I am talking about music productions that are truely independent. Small artists who make their music without being tied to larger interests they have to serve at all. I am hoping to find something here that does something different.

There is so much music out there it is overwhelming. Surely there is alot out there I'd like, that is not from the usual suspects, but how to find it? Another thing that would interest me as well is folkish music.

Maybe it is not quite clear what I mean, but I hope you get the idea. Basically the small town restaurant equivalent of music.

 

[staticV3]

Surely there is alot out there I'd like, that is not from the usual suspects, but how to find it?

Try browsing through Bandcamp's Discover page: https://bandcamp.com/


There you'll find a staggering number of small and independent artists.

 

[PortaStudio]

Try browsing through Bandcamp's Discover page: https://bandcamp.com/
View attachment 293827

There you'll find a staggering number of small and independent artists.

This is great, thanks!

 

[Timcognito]

Love Bandcamp and its also a way to directly support artists by purchasing their music from the site. Also, a big deal to set up but once you do, Roon software has a good music exploration capabilities with Roon Radio. It does the work for you by taking the things that you like and playing more of the same style and suggesting new things. Bandcamp is free and Roon $15/mo but has all kinds capabilities to enhance listening and organize your music, streaming services and your own on a NAS.

 

[Deleted member 21114]

http://www.thewire.co.uk/home

The Wire is a fantastic source for decidedly non-commercial music.

 

[PortaStudio]

Thanks for the recommendations.

I imagine a plattform like bandcamp for example must have some form of censorship, surely it is not a free for all? They say, they are paying their artist fairly, but do they also respect free artisitcal expression? I have heard that on some online plattforms there is something called shadow-banning even, where the user doesnt even know he is being suppressed or censored. This makes me a bit suspicious these days.

If anyone knows if these plattforms have certain policies or are known for supressing artists that would be good to know as well.

I'm going to take a closer look on bandcamps policies, to understand what they are filtering out.

 

[mrbungle]

Thanks for the recommendations.

I imagine a plattform like bandcamp for example must have some form of censorship, surely it is not a free for all? They say, they are paying their artist fairly, but do they also respect free artisitcal expression? I have heard that on some online plattforms there is something called shadow-banning even, where the user doesnt even know he is being suppressed or censored. This makes me a bit suspicious these days.

If anyone knows if these plattforms have certain policies or are known for supressing artists that would be good to know as well.

I'm going to take a closer look on bandcamps policies, to understand what they are filtering out.

Like all private businesses, they will remove content they deem inappropriate or violate their terms of service.

Not sure shadow banning would have a meaningful impact here even if exists. People discover largely unknown bands from recommendations from people or sites they trust.

Bandcamp has very limited social media features. You follow bands and their messages show up in your feed chronological without any algorithm. They have editors promoting new releases, but only a small fraction gets promoted, so not sure you could call any bias here censorship. They could theoretically hide stuff from their bestselling lists or search results, but this would be easy for bands to figure out.

 

[PortaStudio]

Like all private businesses, they will remove content they deem inappropriate or violate their terms of service.

Not sure shadow banning would have a meaningful impact here even if exists. People discover largely unknown bands from recommendations from people or sites they trust.

Bandcamp has very limited social media features. You follow bands and their messages show up in your feed chronological without any algorithm. They have editors promoting new releases, but only a small fraction gets promoted, so not sure you could call any bias here censorship. They could theoretically hide stuff from their bestselling lists or search results, but this would be easy for bands to figure out.

That is good to know. Thank you very much. I am going to check out their terms of service, so I know what I am (not) getting. The site is great, I like the discover feature.

 

[Timcognito]

My favorite music station for out there good music with tons of reviews. Streaming 24/7/365, their stated goal is play 85% of music less than one year from its release but that is not so when rebroadcasts are used when the college is closed or genre or artist specials. Get ready for a broad selection. Just read some reviews in the 2nd link and you will see what I mean.

KFJC 89.7FM

KFJC 89.7FM is a radio station in Los Altos Hills, California. Live volunteer DJs provide edgy listening experiences in a freeform experimental format.

kfjc.org

KFJC 89.7FM

kfjc.org

 

[mmi]

Have a look at NTS radio. Highly curated mixes and radio shows by djs, collectors and industry folks across many genres. Very good tagging and search.

NTS | Don't Assume

NTS is a global radio platform broadcasting music from over 50 cities around the globe, live 24/7.

www.nts.live

 

[HiMu]

• Downtempo/electronica/chillout: https://kahvicollective.bandcamp.com/
• Glitch: Ryoji Ikeda - Dataplex
• Avant garde: Keuhkot
• Worth checking out: Cleaning Women, Yosi Horikawa (Timbres, Bump), Pan Sonic

Another thing that would interest me as well is folkish music.

• Northern folk influenced electronica: Mikko Heikinpoika
  , Sturle Dagsland

 

[Middle Earth]

Thanks for the recommendations.

I imagine a plattform like bandcamp for example must have some form of censorship, surely it is not a free for all? They say, they are paying their artist fairly, but do they also respect free artisitcal expression? I have heard that on some online plattforms there is something called shadow-banning even, where the user doesnt even know he is being suppressed or censored. This makes me a bit suspicious these days.

If anyone knows if these plattforms have certain policies or are known for supressing artists that would be good to know as well.

I'm going to take a closer look on bandcamps policies, to understand what they are filtering out.

There is some pretty crazy recordings on Band Camp.
I am not sure they go hard on censorship.
They were just bought by
Songtradr

Industry	Music
Founded	2014
Founders	Paul Wiltshire, Helge Steffen
Headquarters	Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Website	songtradr.com

Songtradr is an American B2B music platform that claims to facilitate brands, content creators, and digital platforms in their use of music for licensing purposes. As of 2019, Songtradr was the largest music licensing platform in the world.[1]

The platform offers products that can assist agencies, artists, and labels in the finding, licensing, and managing of music across various formats.[2]

 

[GXAlan]

YouTube is probably the best chance to find new artists, in my opinion. In many cases, the artists are looking for mainstream exposure and a contract, so the content may not e completely out of left field. A handful of “started on YouTube” artists include Kina Grannis, Lindsey Stirling for examples of excellent non-mainstream artists, while Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber are probably the most successful mainstream artists who originally got their start on YouTube.