How do you discover new music?

[bradavon]

I tend to use more traditional methods such as the radio, music channels and word of mouth.

The former two aren't particularly great really, the music tends to be very narrow and they tend to play the same music again and again. I've given sites like My Space and Last.fm a try but both have such hideous interfaces (making them hard to navigate and find what interests me) I don't usually return.

So what do you guys use to find out about new music?

p.s - Shing, please repost in Music if you like.

[Markgway]

Radio, music channels, what I hear in shops, etc...

[romerojpg]

Myspace is slowly decimating actual song websites and is now the main way most artisits pimp their music. I ussually go to the crap myspace site before any others, as they have their best music ussually available to play there and then so you can get an idea of what they are like instantly.

Many artist main websites are just crap, at least myspace you know is poor, but has the simple player at the top of the screen to play ussually a bunch of tracks.

But I just download illegally tonnes of albums and if they are good then I will end up buying some, if they suck goodbye your deleted. Most artists no way I will pay money to see if I like an album nowadays, so downloading for me is making the music companies money as I buy plenty off the back of my illegal downloading, sometimes an artists entire back catalogue! so they get their cash from me in the end. I know I am in the minority sadly, as many people do not buy any music at all nowadays, which is a shame as they are sooo cheap.

But sometimes I just go mental and look at amazon's artists like recomendations across the bottom of the page and download all of them.

But radio as well works for me, if I hear one single song I like I will go away and instantly google them and look at sites and myspace sadly sokme artists are crap and only have one good song in the music charts, but at least I looked into them

I also vistit a few forums and strangley a few people like the kind of stuff I like, so it just pays for me to keep my eyes open ussually.

I will try anything, the worst that can happen is its crap and you waste an hour on an album. I use music to work so need about 6+ hours of music a day to get by just at work, or I would go even more mental in the brain.

[bradavon]

You should give Spotify ago Romero. It saves you having to download the MP3s just to find they're shit. I now use it to firstly listen to the artist then buy the CD or download the MP3s.

It's so quick and works flawlessly. You're also supporting the artist as they get their cut of the (very infrequent) adverts. I'm surprised quite how excellent the software is.

I'll have a proper read of your post tomorrow thanks.

[romerojpg]

Yup I am reading good things about Spotify, such a strange thing it is and getting more popular by the day it seems. Not signed up for it, yet

[bradavon]

You should. On one level it's the same as Last.fm and Deezer, namely streaming music but where it differs is:

1. 160Kbps OGG quality, that's high for streaming
2. The interface is incredibly slick, responsive and fast (something not easily achieved in the constraints of a web browser)
3. It's only a 3Mb download, although it caches all files listened to so the profile folder can get large (mine is 500Mb)
4. It's so easy to use, you just search and save a playlist
5. It also has a unique sharing facility. It has no social networking of it's own (they have their place but everything doesn't need one) but instead you can post special Spotify links anywhere you like, the user clicks on it and the exact album/song is loaded in their local Spotify installation
6. Loads of sites are popping up where fans have made their very own custom playlists
7. Album art and all tagging information is spot on and loads instantly
8. The selection is massive, probably as big as Last.fm (which is web based and has a large social network of it's own)
9. If you use Last.fm, Spotify can scrobble to it (I think this means songs you listen to are catalogued on Last.fm too)

It really does work so well. I've only had about half a dozen adverts since I've been using it and all are very unobtrusive, lasting about 20 seconds. They do appear during an album but never during a song.

As good as P2P is, lets face it, it's not an "instant" way to check out new music (see if you like it) but Spotify is. Then if you like it, you can buy the album or download the MP3s. Of course for MP3 Player/Non-PC use you still need CDs and/or MP3s after all.

p.s - I also use Deezer (much like Last.fm but French based, although all in English) as it's web based, it means I can listen to my music anywhere but as Spotify is so much better I'm finding myself using that more and more. As well as traditional MP3s in WMP11 of course.

[bradavon]

Many artist main websites are just crap

Many are shocking aren't they, many fan sites are much better.

[romerojpg]

Thats why I just go to Myspace official sites and just listen to the music, dont navigate them and look about, Just listen to the tracks playing.

[bradavon]

I hate it when sites suddenly blare out music/noise at me. It's always so intrusive, especially when I'm listening to music.

[Shingster]

This should really be in the Music forums, so moving...

[Ghostdude]

I have gone on lastfm which is ok.MYSPACE is another one but I notice most sites not don't have any MP3s to download

[bradavon]

Why would they offer free mp3s?

[luckystars]

Was listening to BBC Radio 6 at work yesterday, I'd whole heartedly suggest it as a source for discovering new music.

Louren Laverne's show in particular was a great blend of new (really everything other than mainstream) and old.

And you can get it every weekday from 10 to 1pm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00c000j

I've come to think the internet is a sterile place to listen to music. If you can find a Radio DJ (preferably on a non commercial station) that you like their taste and have some trust in them, why not let them play you all the best suff...the human touch, no ads no pop-ups, no eye strain..

I heard Kate Bush's new song yesterday on the radio and it brought back the importance of the medium to deliver the music to my ears. It was more of a special moment it coming on like that while I was already in musical listener bliss...no tapping at keys, no 100's of distractions..

Kate Bush - Deeper Understanding
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzqF_gBpS84


Other than the obvious exposure to music (I always ask mates/family what they're listening to, plus from web/radio/tv/magazines), I read all the CD liner notes and take and interest in musicians/performers/writers/producers names and one thing usually leads to another.

http://www.discogs.com is one of my most viewed websites for this.

Also buying compilations is another great thing. If I see a comp with one or 2 great songs I know I might give it a shot and see what I can discover (old habit from my teens). Another tip is if I want to investigate a long established artist (and who doesn't) I'll look for a good 'greatest hits' or anthology collection, then for the tracks/era I like I'll further investigate the album those tracks came from. Note that lots of artists have those cheap 'hits' cd's that are usually just their best known tracks and not necessarily the real good stuff so I try and get one made buy the original label the artist was signed to, or something to indicate it's not just 'the usual songs'.

[gasteropod]

I heard Kate Bush's new song yesterday on the radio and it brought back the importance of the medium to deliver the music to my ears. It was more of a special moment it coming on like that while I was already in musical listener bliss...no tapping at keys, no 100's of distractions..

Kate Bush - Deeper Understanding
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzqF_gBpS84

By 'new song', you actually mean a dreadful reworking of an amazing song from her classic 1989 album 'The Sensual World'

I've listened to the whole 'Director's Cut' album on Spotify and it's shite.

[luckystars]

Yes I know the story behind the Kate Bush song but didn't want to digress off topic.

I'm not that familiar with the original but I listened to both of the tracks earlier and can see strengths in both. I felt the new version was still one of the best songs on all day though. Fair enough if you don't like it.

[gasteropod]

It's the vocoder bit in particular that I hate.

[luckystars]

I really liked it. It's her sons voice apparently.

[romerojpg]

One way I discover new music nowadays (a few years down the line from this threads start) is looking at what is playing near me at a venue, going through all the bands/singers and giving them a quick Myspace sound check to see what their music is like. If they sound OK I buy a ticket and see them live

I saw two acts this week alone that way, I would never have even heard of them before. Now I love them both after hearing all their work online and seeing them live and you have support acts before them as well, usually in a similar style, so you can get into them as well it helps that I am into the photography side as well and even if I dont adore them at least I will have some images.