Finding new music has become so much easier in this technological age. There are even services dedicated solely to helping people with this and since my show (2k indie) is dedicated to sharing the newest of indie music, I thought I’d share some ways I’ve learned to find good new music fast.
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Spotify – I have to say (#notsponsored) that Spotify has been a huge tool of mine for finding new music. Because of the algorithms that it uses, the more you use the service and save music the more you’ll get suggested music tailored to your liking. Since I started DJing my music library has grown A LOT and I’ve noticed that this has helped Spotify in suggesting artists that sound similar to the ones I have liked before. Now it’s as simple as going to a favorite artists of mine and clicking ‘Fans Also Like’ and bam, I have a lot of new artists to start looking into.
2. Blogs – Thanks to the power of google it’s pretty easy to find music based blogs. There are blogs that list out good artists, albums, songs and some even review them for you (which is super helpful). Someone has already gone through the work to find and listen to the music, so this is a good secondary way to find music.
3. Indieshuffle.com – This website has been incredibly useful to me as well, there might be others like it but this one is definitely worth checking out. You can sort the music by genre, popularity and even go random. It gives you new music and tells you what the artist sounds like, tags related to the piece, and a short description along with a sample of the music. This is a quick and really organized way to find new tunes, and it’s definitely worth trying out. They range from really known artists to smaller artists, so there’s a pretty diverse range of music available.
4. Youtube – This one kind of goes with the blogs. You can find plenty of album reviews and channels dedicated to new music, and there’s also a lot of playlists for this too. Album Review TV (ARTV) is a nice channel to start with. There’s also TheLazylazyme who posts a lot of random new tracks. (and I’m sure there’s plenty more)
5. Your Favorite Artists – This is a fun way to find music you like, since you’re favorite artists likely listen to music you would like too. Some artists these days have Spotify’s or other accounts where they make playlists of their favorite stuff, and since it’s likely you have similar taste in music, it’s a good place to look.
6. Pay Attention When You’re Out – This is one of my absolute favorite ways to stumble on a new good song. Music is large in our world and can heard in so many different places, and if you hear something you like it’s now as easy as pulling out your phone and asking siri or Bixby or whatever what’s playing, and bam you have a new track on your list.
7. Listen to WKNC – Of course I had to save the best for last, make sure to tune in to the best in college radio for some new music too. With the new HD 1 and HD 2 you have a lot of options, we play different genres depending on the time of day on each. You can check it out at wknc.org/listen or through the Radio FX app. We have Spotify playlists too.
So how do you find new music?
– DJ Psyched
