10 Tools that Might Just Help You Discover Your New Favorite Band
In need of new music? Here are 10 music discovery platforms you need to know about!
#1 Spotify ‘Discover Weekly’
Every Monday, Discover Weekly gifts 200 million Spotify users with a playlist of thirty songs they’ve never heard before. Spotify observes musicians’ listening habits, takes some data from the millions of playlists that already exist, and blends them together with a clever algorithm delivering you a fresh playlist every week. Just remember to take note of the tracks you like, as it refreshes every week. Most streaming services have a similar tool, but we find that Spotify has the most effective version.
#2 Bandcamp
You may have already heard of Bandcamp as an online record store and music community where passionate fans discover, connect with, and directly support the artists they love. But it’s also a useful tool for finding new music! It’s very own ‘Discover’ area allows you to pick different search categories including genres, tags, formats, and more. There are plenty of curation possibilities in their too, including their fan pages which allow you to show off your latest purchases, create wish lists, leave notes on favorite tracks and follow selected artists to keep up to date with their latest goings-on.
#3 Last.fm
Last.fm is the ultimate tool to track your ever-changing music tastes and introduce you to the next artist you love. All you need to do is create an account, connect it to your streaming service (or download their desktop app if you listen to music via iTunes), and start listening. Some of the features you may love:
Find music to love on your personalized music page, Next_30 playlist, or recommended radio;
View your stats in real-time, receive weekly reports, access your listening history;
Access your entire listening history anytime relive specific days, view your all-time stats and rediscover forgotten favorites.
After listening for a decent period, Last.fm will have enough data to whip up some personal recommendations. The app also recommends new artists, reintroduces songs you’ve previously heard, and posts upcoming concerts of artists found in your library.
#4 Whatsong
If you’re an avid TV or movie fan, your ears may not wander too far into the music world. Luckily, WhatSong helps you identify songs that soundtrack whatever you watch. If you hear a song while watching your latest TV obsession, you can search the episode and find the specific moment where the song was played.
#5 Indie Shuffle
Indie Shuffle prides itself on its army of international music fanatics prepared to curate you a new playlist, all without using algorithms but from real music lovers. The twist here is the focus on indie and unsigned artists, making it a much more unique offering. If you’re an indie artist yourself, you can even submit your own material for the site.
#6 Music Roamer
Musicroamer lets you discover new music, find related artists, and listen to previews of top tracks. Simply type in an artist or band on the Music Roamer website and you’ll be given similar bands and their tracks to sample. Click on one of these bands, select more similar artists, and watch it expand further. Do this enough times and you’ll have a screen full of new material to listen to!
#7 8tracks
Another great tool for those wanting to avoid algorithm-based recommendations. 8tracks features millions of playlists curated by other users to explore, built mainly around various moods and themes. Feeling sleepy? There’s a playlist to help you nod off. Angry? Plenty of tunes to rage to. Premium users can save playlists and enjoy ad-free streaming!
#8 Gnoosic
If you're looking for a bare-bones recommendation tool, it doesn't get much simpler than Gnoosic. Just type in three of your favorite artists and Gnoosic will start recommending similar musicians. Gnoosic contains thousands of bands and quite some knowledge about who likes what. After each recommendation, tell Gnoosic if you liked what it came up with so it can learn your tastes.
#9 TasteKid
TasteKid surfaces recommendations based on your existing tastes. But it's more like a social network in that it shows you how popular that artist is with the TasteKid community. It's smart, learning more about you with each play. And you don't have to leave the site to sample the suggested songs, as TasteKid provides a sample of each artist's work, along with an artist bio.
#10 Grooveshark
If you're looking for a music streaming app that's all about what other people are listening to, Grooveshark is a good option. It just rolled out a redesign that's focused intensely on the social aspect of listening to music, letting users discover new tunes through the community. Filtered by genre, Grooveshark's "Music Feed" learns what you like and displays songs to accommodate your tastes. Users can tag friends to share music with them and listen to live "Broadcasts" from other Grooveshark users while chatting at the same time.