Discovering New Music? 572
captainclever asks: "As an avid music fan, I'm keen on discovering new artists that I will like. I have discovered a few by listening to internet radio, and writing down the names of songs that take my fancy. I had a play with The Digital Music Network, but it was very intrusive, full of adverts and only worked in Windows. I found it quite a hard topic to google for as there is so much stuff about music. Has anyone come accoss a decent system that can suggest some good artists to me based on my existing listening habbits?" Word of mouth, of course, is the tried and true method of promoting a new group. Are there weblogs that allow users to discuss music much like Slashdot discusses "news"?
Amazon (Score:4, Informative)
I still love Groove Salad (Score:5, Informative)
why based on your listening habits? (Score:3, Informative)
Ask your friends what they like... download random songs, etc. One of my favorite ways is to browse other users' files on file sharing programs. Who knows, you might find something completely new and unexpected.
That's how I discovered Apocalyptica [apocalyptica.com] - rock'n'roll on cellos - and Our Lady Peace.
www.digitallyimported.com (Score:2, Informative)
The web site has comment sections for discussing the current play list. The streamed mp3 format works great in Windows, Solaris, Linux, and Mac.
SoulSeek (Score:2, Informative)
Taste isn't a science, you can't break it down. Just experiment.
Non-band specific parts of band-specific boards (Score:2, Informative)
For REM you have my site, murmurs.com which has a HUGE non-REM music section with very diverse tastes.
U2 has interference.com
Radiohead used to have greenplastic.com for boards, but I think ateaseweb is the best.
Most big fansites have something similar. You'd be surprised what you find.
Ethan
Try cdbaby.com, they have samples on-line (Score:2, Informative)
It's a small independent web-based distributor with a cool way for people to get hold of great music. They have lots samples and the money gets pretty darn directly to the artists (as opposed to those recording with the RIAA).
Re:Tried this? (Score:3, Informative)
Here's one I like (Score:3, Informative)
Amazon lists, Band sites (Score:2, Informative)
Also check out interviews with band members and check their homepages. They often talk about other bands they like or people who have influenced them. Depending on the music you like, certain members may play in a few different bands, or may sit in on concert sets of other bands. I listen to a lot of live music [etree.org] and many of the artists I like to collect I discovered by grabbing shows that an artist I already knew about sat in on.
Message boards and fan sites probably make decent ways to hear about people, as well as topical magazines (ie, GuitarPlayer, BassPlayer, maybe ComputerMusic, etc.).
Don't forget to ask other people at the shows you see what they listen to. CHeck out the local listings of bands in the area. Take the plunge and go see a show of an unknown that plays in a club that often hosts music you like.
Etc, etc, ad nauseam, and so on.
Re:I still love Groove Salad (Score:2, Informative)
Re:cdnow / amazon (Score:2, Informative)
I like Indie Rock / Emo / Punk / Hardcore and I have found that just by browsing alt.binaries.sounds.mp3.indie I have found lots of new, very good music to listen to and explore.
Interpol just rocks the Casba
Borders (Score:3, Informative)
It made for a very pleasant and educational half hour of music browsing for me (annoying, though, that about 2/3 of the stations were mal/nonfunctioning).
It's like your spefically refering to gnoosic.... (Score:1, Informative)
Audio Galaxy (Score:5, Informative)
I really like the drum n bass duo Lamb [amazon.com] and thanks to this feature at audio galaxy I was introduced to the Sneaker Pimps [amazon.com] and Hooverphonic [amazon.com].
Err, I mean I rushed right out to my local national chain music store and purchased the CDs.
You kind of get this when you browse through Amazon.com's [amazon.com] "other people purchased" links.
Suggesting music based on listening habits (Score:2, Informative)
besonic is a site mostly populated by obscure artists, a heap of them electronic music makers, too. if you sign up for a listening account with them, they'll email you once a week (or something?) with tracks and artists they think you'll like based on how many tracks in different genres you've listened to. it's not a very intelligent system, but it kind of fits what is being asked about.
of course, sites like besonic (and the original big one, mp3.com) are dying off. the most promising new one is electronicscene.com [electronicscene.com]. any electronic musician can sign up to have their tracks on electronicscene. there are ample links between genre pages and artist pages so that if you find one artist or genre you like, you can easily find another similar one... or lists of the artists and genres that influenced them. provided you like electronic music, it's an excellent place for finding new stuff.
Mp3.com, EmergentMusic.com, others: lots of work. (Score:3, Informative)
In general, I find using any of these sites, including and especially MP3.com, to find decent music you haven't heard elsewhere is a ton of work. I continue to contend [slashdot.org] that, when someone comes up with a decent business model, services which suggest new music will make more money than companies which sell music. I have yet to see one that I think actually works. This is a difficult task: music is an intensely personal decision and relying on suggestions of others takes trust. I really wonder what ever happend to firefly, and the host of other sites that purported to use neural networks to suggest music based on you rating stuff you know you liked. I think these agent based approaches are more likely to succeed than something like a web log or zine.
Re: Japanese Music Recommendations (Score:2, Informative)
HOLY CRAP! LAME LAME LAME LAME LAME! (Score:5, Informative)
i'll be removing my tracks from online... albeit no cost to those that download, it was a source of income for myself, and such the case, i offered my music free of charge for download to anyone that wanted. The lack of commercial (or independent) releases i've had over the years, was justified by the fact that i still maintained an income off my music, from MP3.com... a goal i think every musician wishes to achieve (unless your one of those that likes to point fingers and call someone a sell-out for wanting to be heard and monetarily successful with their craft).
so needless to say... all my tracks will be removed from online, i can't afford the $20.00 a month to continue their premium artist service, i.e., i can't pay for people to listen to my music...
so, get your downloads before they're gone...
All artists on MP3.com will have to reduce their pages to a maximum of 3 tracks as of January 15th, or PAY for their once free-offered service.
quoted from mp3.com:
"P4P Promotion Will be Discontinued
It's our goal to offer Premium Artists the best service for their money and tools that benefit all members. But this was getting more difficult given the enormous accounting, engineering, research and fulfillment costs that went into both the P4P promotion and regrettably, the monitoring of individuals gaming the system. We have thus decided to discontinue the P4P promotion on January 15.
Artist Cash Program Will be Discontinued
Accounting and engineering resource issues associated with the P4P promotion apply also to the Artist Cash program. This has made it necessary for us to discontinue one of our more convenient Artist programs. If you are currently paying for any subscriptions with Artist Cash, please go to your My Account to easily create an alternate payment method. "
Re:Why don't you start one? (Score:3, Informative)
Some folks have been known to get weirded out by this.
Re:How About Getting Outside? (Score:4, Informative)
I'd love to see a service like Citysearch [citysearch.com] (which posts, amoung other things, listings of bands playing in your local area, as long as your local area is somewhat metropolitan), but that actually linked to samples of the band's music, and had the ability to quickly listen to a bunch of samples for bands playing tonight. You could do a ton of tie-ins: buy CDs, buy tickets, buy shirts, send mail to the band, etc.
Here are a few... (Score:2, Informative)
2) AllMusic.com : Excellent reviews of albums. If they rate something five stars, chances are you'll like it. I guess this is more of a reference site, but it's the ultimate reference
3) Rateyourmusic.com : You archive your cd collection by rating your albums, then you get amazon-style recommendations. It has more of a community focus than amazon or other sites (message boards, private messages, etc) so it's easy to get direct recommendations from other users.
4) Emergentmusic.com : Basically, someone writes a recommendation, and everyone else gets in on it, making corrections, adding new information, and making it better. By the end of the process, you have a well-written recommendation that gives you all the information needed to decide whether or not you like the artist/album.
File Browsing (Score:4, Informative)
So if you're not averse to using file-sharing programs such as Gnutella et al, I would suggest looking for songs you already like and instead of downloading the songs you find (or in addition to), browsing the files of the people who have those songs. This way you can make as big a leap as you want.
Since this is human-based I think you'll find similar tastes that jump genres, something that even the most clever algorithm is likely to miss, and will do precisely what you're seeking; introduction to new sounds.
Also, you might consider stuff like MP3.com. I've found a lot of stuff that is unknown only for lack (or refusal) of a record deal.
garageband.com (Score:3, Informative)
Garageband.com [garageband.com] has great selections of independent bands. There's a big mixture of quality on the site, but you can find some of the best stuff in the charts there, and check the playlists recommended by bands you like.
They also have a ridiculously cheap subscription service that allows you to get CDs of some of the best tracks on the site on a monthly basis.
KEXP Freeform radio! (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Writing about music is like dancing to a book.. (Score:2, Informative)
"Writing about music is like dancing about architecture"
KCRW - Santa Monica College radio station (Score:5, Informative)
Epitonic.com (Score:1, Informative)
Google Sets + P2P (Score:1, Informative)
Go to Google Sets
http://labs.google.com/sets
Search for 2 or 3 bands in a particular genre or listening habit. example: metallica & megadeth
Go with the small set, Pantera,
Slayer,Iron Maiden,Testament,Sepultura,Korn,AC DC
Marilyn Manson,Tool,etc..
Now use whatever method you prefer for downloading music, search for those bands. Download the most heavily shared (popular) songs. After a few minutes, you should have several hours of music in whatever genre your interested in.
Re:News? (Score:3, Informative)
Public Radio (Score:2, Informative)
IPM Radio? (Score:3, Informative)
They've been broadcasting for over 4 years now, and I have to say that in the year I've been attending broadcasts, I have found a lot of new types of music I like.
There is a weekly 6-8 hour live show, that starts at about 8:30 PM EST every friday, with real audio and MPEG-4/AAC versions showing up in the archives [ipmradio.com] a few days later.
Ogg streams might be possible, if someone can direct me to an OGG streamer that lets clients skip around in the streams, like Quicktime/Mpeg-4/AAC does.
here [ipmradio.com] is the link to the mpeg-4 version of the 4th anniversary show as a sample.
www.allmusic.com (Score:5, Informative)
KALX Berkeley (Score:2, Informative)
KALX [berkeley.edu], UC Berkeley's station, streams [berkeley.edu] if you aren't within a mile or two of campus (90.7 FM for locals). It's easy to find some DJs/shows that focus on your preferred genres, although I look forward to new experiences. Good times.
Re:College Radio! (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Napster (Score:1, Informative)
10 Reasons you should check out CD Baby (Score:5, Informative)
10 Reasons You Should Check Out CD Baby [cdbaby.com]:
Some ideas (Score:3, Informative)
- Using Kazaa, search for a favourite artist. Go and browse the collection of someone with a lot of that artist. Download one track from every artist whose music/name you don't know
- Look up favourites on Amazon, and as well as reading the "other people bought..." section, read the comments, they often mention other bands. I've found a few this way.
- Search on Google Groups. See who is talking about a favourite artist. Who else are they talking about?
- Try and find like minded friends. I find this hard as my tastes are fairly esoteric, but I've got one or two friends who aren't too far off, and I have some good discoveries through them.
- Use Launch [launch.com]. It takes a while but once you've customised it enough it does make pretty good suggestions every now and again. I've discovered at least 2 favourite bands via launch. Also good to listen to at work.
- Find a radio station that plays interesting music. My personal favourite is WFMU [wfmu.org] - mostly shows are rubbish, but a few real gems in there (your mileage may vary). Browse the playlists. Some of the radio stations have "top 100 most played songs for 200x" lists - these are great.
- Just keep your eyes open. You'll find stuff when you least expect it.
Happy hunting!