New music discovery?

[Brian Hall]

What do you use for new music discovery? I mostly listen to Qobuz, but they are really bad at picking music I will like.

Both Spotify and YouTube Music seem to be better at picking music I will like based on what I have listened to previously.

I've done a little reading about Roon. Is it worth it?

 

[digitalfrost]

Bandcamp is really good once you found something you like, you can find more stuff like it.

Also. Just go ask ChatGPT for recommendations.

 

[mrbungle]

Roon is okay for discovery, it gives you recommendations for new releases and also provides lists of recommendations for each album, current and all time. Not sure that’s a main selling point for Roon though. You can also use last.fm with it, they have a much larger user base. Algorithms are great in giving you lists of music that people with similar taste enjoy. But if you like finding more obscure deep cuts outside your usual playlists, you’ll need to follow some humans whose taste you trust. ChatGPT can work here as well for older stuff as its training set likely contains millions of reviews.

 

[Moderate Dionysianism]

Last.fm - surely it doesn't have the most sophisticated algorithms, but the recommendations and similar artists sections can be fun. It doesn't analyze the music itself, being based purely on ppl's listening histories. So while a recommendation can be off stylistically, I found it less likely to steer me towards what I already know.

But I mostly rummage through people's libraries there, especially when I see a mix of stuff I know and like, and names/titles I'm aren't familiar with. Found lots of fascinating music this way, following people rather than software.

 

[IAtaman]

I think nothing beats Spotify's Release Radar and Discover Weekly options as of this moment. It creates a taste profile for you apparently, and recommends music accordingly - and. they are quite good at it. I think the other product they would like to sell on top of subscriptions is that "taste profile" they have on everyone so that labels / artists can simulate the potential market success of their new releases before launching them, or they can even have their own AI content creators that create music people like so they can get rid of their artist payment expenses.

Anyway, I digress. I believe creating an accurate taste profile for people is part of their future business model most likely, so it works well in Spotify and they keep improving it. I have recently figured out that you can now exclude playlist from your taste profile as well so that your running or gym playlists do not distort what recommendations you get, which is great/

 

[Brian Hall]

I just got an update to the Qobuz apps today. They added a radio station option. Select an artist or album and it will play similar music. So far it is working well. Made a station based on the group "Beyond the Black" and I've liked everything they played. It seems to be working as well as Spotify's version.

 

[Nitreb]

What do you use for new music discovery? I mostly listen to Qobuz, but they are really bad at picking music I will like.

Both Spotify and YouTube Music seem to be better at picking music I will like based on what I have listened to previously.

I've done a little reading about Roon. Is it worth it?

YouTube, reviews of recordings on various sites e.g. Stereophile, Hi-finews, etcé

 

[Timcognito]

Roon, Qobuz, Qobuz genre and era based playlists, Bandcamp and reviews here > https://kfjc.org/music/ because I like new but eclectic and international music from Europe, So. America and Africa, Jazz, Acoustic, Blues, Electronic and Surf. That station's mission is to play and review music released within previous 2 years from many genres and artists and few big named contemporary artists. The reviews, 6-7000, are only a paragraph or two so its easy to search or skip once you find a niche you like or hate and they go back many decades even if they no longer get much airplay.

 

[kemmler3D]

A friend of a friend recently introduced me to this site: https://everynoise.com/

It maps every genre of music on Spotify according to the character of the music, Up/down = artificial/organic, left/right = smooth/dynamic.

Is that a good way to characterize all music at once? I don't know. But I think you can find something you know you like and check out genres adjacent to that. I just jumped in there and it seems like a VERY fast way to break out of usual ruts. Apparently I am now listening to traditional Zulu music.

 

[CrustyToad]

For me the YouTube channel of KEXP has been a great resource
https://m.youtube.com/@kexp

Love the setup of live playing in the studio followed by an interview. You hear different bands and learn also about their bio and influences. Following the influences also leads to new discoveries. And so does finding a DJ there that you like and checking out the bands they invite

Don't forget to support them if you like their style!

 

[Rednaxela]

A friend of a friend recently introduced me to this site: https://everynoise.com/

Cool!

It links to this playlist, which looks quite amazing too.

The Sound of Everything

The Sound of Everything · Playlist · 6311 songs · 31.6K likes

open.spotify.com

 

[Brian Hall]

I've seen the light after having Roon for a little while. It has the best algorithm for picking music I like.

Apparently I really like what they call "Swedish Doom Metal".

 

[MattHooper]

I tend not to stream a lot of music in the background so instead I go in to active music discovery modes - mostly on Discogs and YouTube.

Discogs is especially financially dangerous as it continually produces more music to check out which you can immediately purchase.
All too easy to think I’m just going in there to see a thing or two and finish with my bank account $100 lighter.

 

[coonmanx]

Internet radio...

UnderCurrents Radio — UnderCurrents

Music With Your Mind In Mind

www.undercurrentsradio.net

JB RADIO - Web Player

alternative,Commercial - Free Web Radio,HTML5 audio

jb-radio.net

KXRE

Listen to our station on your computer or mobile device!

streamdb6web.securenetsystems.net

 

[coonmanx]

YouTube is great for finding videos of bands from say the 60s or 70s and getting some live concert footage of them. Unfortunately, back in the 60s they did a lot of lip sinking, which was weird. A guy standing there with no guitar chord. LOL.

But I do love seeing some of that old footage. Like last night when I found the Allman Brothers live at the Fillmore East...

I also love all of the Playing For Change videos where they have artists all around the world contributing to a song. Some really great stuff there. I don't know if any of that stuff is available but it probably is for a price.

 

[coonmanx]

Wow, that is some powerful stuff. Just last night I was watching those videos with Duane Allman on slide guitar and now Derek Trucks is in that video. Coming full circle in a way.

Also I learned that Duane played on the Derek and the Dominos album way back when.

 

[Philbo King]

We went on a couple cruises, the Legendary Rythm & Blues Cruise and Legends of Rock. They both exposed us to new excellent talent. This year:

Dawn Watson
Matthew Curry Band
Vanessa Collier
Immediate Family
Two Wolf

There were a number of others, but these popped up without thinking about it.

They were both in the Caribbean, but IMHO theye could have simply stayed in port and saved some tons of fuel; we never left the ship. (Once you've seen one island tourist trap, you've seen them all. Besides, there was too much good music happening on board. But I suppose that idea doesn't gel with the cruise line standard operating practice...)

 

[coonmanx]

I think that the advantage of internet radio versus a streaming service is that the latter is going to try to mold the content to your liking. With internet radio they are just playing whatever they want to play. And so you hear some stuff that maybe you would never have gotten exposed to otherwise. It's a journey and you don't have to do any of the driving.

A real mix of music. And sometimes you go "Hey, what was that?" and the real time playlist tells you what you just heard. And then you go buy the CD. Anyway, that is how I do it. LOL.

 

[coonmanx]

For me the YouTube channel of KEXP has been a great resource
https://m.youtube.com/@kexp

Love the setup of live playing in the studio followed by an interview. You hear different bands and learn also about their bio and influences. Following the influences also leads to new discoveries. And so does finding a DJ there that you like and checking out the bands they invite

Don't forget to support them if you like their style!

Bookmarked.

 

[Philbo King]

Some of my favorites:
Kcck.org
- jazz & blues

https://radiovolna.net/en/25722-blues-radio-athen.html
- blues from Greece

arkansasrocks.com
- rock. Includes the new Beaker Street show with Clyde Clifford on Saturday nights. But not ad-free like the others.