I’ve been looking for a way to discover new music. Spotify used to be quite good, but now I feel like 10% of the stuff it recommends me is AI slop.
How do you navigate the music-scape?
I only discover music through human curators I trust.
Currently it’s via the YouTube channel “worldhaspostrock”, though the word “new” might not be appropriate because as of late they’ve just been posting decade-old albums.
- Bandcamp
- see who tours together. If you like A and they open for B, you might like B
- indie record labels
- see who’s playing at local venues.
I know quite a few people who use bandcamp, I’ll have to give it a shot
Listen to the billions of songs made before 2016 lol. You got a lot of catching up to do.
New does not equal good.
Beyond that, follow trustworthy artists. The only way to fight the slop is with community and trust.
i recently discovered Tom Lehrer through some shit post. But I guess it depends on what you define as new
“New to you” music!
Go to the small concert venues and see them play.
I’ve used https://www.music-map.com/ a few times but not lately, so I don’t know how exclusive it is in regards to AI music.
I don’t usually listen to anything newer than around 2010 anyway. 🤣
Curious how you are using Spotify.
I learn about new music by playing Spotify song radio based on a song I like, and then adding the good songs I discover to a playlist.
Any standouts I listen to the whole album and research the artist.
Its not as good as when I was in high school and cross pollinating with the other music nerds bit it is ok.
At first (+10 years ago), I would just play albums friends recommended or of artists I knew I liked; Then I transitioned to playlists I found, then I let spotify mix in songs and slowly let spotify’s algorithm take up more and more of my suggestions.
After a while I noticed it getting more and more stale, recycling music I already liked and looping it.
More recently, it’s just completely off 1/2 the time, and suggesting very boring music that I suspect they commissioned and own the rights for. The playlists are all “made by Spotify” and are similar to the auto suggestions.
So I stopped using Spotify suggestions, then, as the UI got more and more bloated with stuff I don’t care for (merch, podcasts, audiobooks), I straight up switched to Qobuz for its clean UI.
But now my recommendations come from Youtube or friends.
Which is why I made this post :) (which has turned out to be a gold mine!)
I mainly listen to electronic music for the past decade or so and have several artists I’ve listened to consistently, they’ll collab with some new artist or do a mix and include their music so I check them out and it grows from there.
My main genre is hiphop I simply discover artists via recursive checking of features
I guess im lucky in that my taste is with older music. I had a friend whos main hobby was going to bars with bands playing and that is how bands got their start in the past. If you don’t live near a large metro you can check who is playing at various big city venues and then look around at what their music is like.
outside
YT music is way better than Spotify. But some AI stuff is reccomeded .I haven’t used Spotify in probably almost a decade. I used to use Play music back in the day and got in the habit of downloading albums and uploading them I used a different service since google nuked play music and revived in as yt music.
But downloading and building your own music library you cultivate is the only way to vett music sources and ensure you aren’t listening to slop
Google play music was awesome. YT music sucks ass. I do miss Grooveshark tremendously.
Im starting to build a library of albums again, like I used to have ages ago
Spotify isn’t owned by one of the tech monopolies. And it’s European.
It’s much easier to find organic art in a community, outside the art industries.
Sure, unless you set up a lot of subscriptions it won’t just come on a consumption conveyor belt, and some people might want or expect that, but it’s much better to be in a place where you’re actually interacting with artists.
Record labels. For any band you like, go to their label’s website, browse the other artists on their roster or peruse the label’s past releases. The bands will likely be similar in style/sound, or at least worth checking out.
