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How do you discover new music?

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Ape Gone Insane

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Discovering or finding new films and TV shows to watch is a walk in the park compared to music. Over the past 4 years, I've generally stuck to the Hype Machine (which aggregates new and popular songs from over 1,000 music blogs) and a couple of Youtube channels (like MrSuicideSheep and Majestic Casual).

I haven't fully utilised Google's radio function and I'm generally quite ignorant of how they work or which is the most effective across music streaming services. I've also never used Last.fm

What services or tools do people use here for music discovery? I always get the sense I'm missing out on hundreds of songs I would have liked if I heard them so I'm looking to find ways to discover them.
 
Clicking links, reading articles, and looking at lists mainly these days. 10 years ago when I was just getting out of college and working at a record store my coworkers would often mention obscure artists from before my time and I'd google to find more. It is pretty helpful to have friends that actually care about music even more than you, especially if they are older.
 
Pretty much solely NahRight.com and GAF-Hop. Occasionally GAF-Hop will put me on to non-hip-hop artists too, so it's pretty efficient.

Also, a small group of friends I trust.
 
Pandora, NeoGaf, random YouTube videos, and surprisingly enough camgirls really broadened my horizons and got me into allot of new music.
 
I have discovered a lot through spotify radio based on things I already like. Also, me and a few friends have a shared list that have gotten me into a lot of different things. Those are the main ones, but I have discovered a lot from random forum threads or just a review that I stumble upon in a newspaper.
 
Ape Gone Insane said:
I'd like to try Pandora since it comes up a lot in threads but it's not available in the U.K., unfortunately.
Click to expand...

That's too bad. Is VPN possible?

I know other people use Spotify and Grooveshark but I've found their radios to be pretty crappy as far as music discovery goes. Pandora does a really good job of giving you 70% you'd expect, 10% you've forgotten about and 20% new stuff that you may like.

You might also want to try Last.fm's radio player. I don't honestly remember if it even plays music you don't pick though. I'm fairly certain it has some sort of similar radio/discovery thing.
 
Reddit mainly (just go to the subreddit of your favourite genre), then Youtube, then Spotify, then Last.fm and mixes/podcasts.
 
I've gotten lazy the last three years. Right now I find new bands and artists through Spotify, mentions/shout outs on twitter from bands/band members I follow and lastly: the needle drop (Anthony Fantano).

Anthony Fantano is a regular guy.: http://youtu.be/qvNjCNBVs9k
 
Spotify and Last.fm, plenty of great playlists on those. I've always found Pandora to be pretty useless, but I haven't used it in years so maybe it's changed since then.
 
-Soundcloud
-Last fm similar artists features
-Bandcamp
-Wikipedia associated acts
-Indie Shuffle discovery website (for indie music)
-Hypem blog (aggregates from all music blogs the most popular or tending /other ctegory music in a region or world)
-GAF Music/Indie threads
 
Recommend artists on any service/sight you use, /mu/ and GAF(we're all cynics lol), word of mouth, and sometimes just looking at lists like 10 GREATES THROAT SINGING ALBUMS YOU NEVER HEARD. It's hard, but doable. For the lazy, try Pandora and search something you love or never hear, like funk.
 
Is there a general consensus as to which has the best radio service out of Rdio, Pandora, Google, Spotify and Last.fm? Or is it just a matter of shopping around?
 
GAF, Pitchfork, blogs, Pandora, end of year lists

also, if I like an artist I just google for similar ones and try those out
 
You tube is also a really good place to subscribe to all sorts of media creators and aggregators. For example you can subscribe to a big mainstream site like Pitchfork and get feeds of live performances, new videos, etc. Then subscribe to some smaller more niche places like La Blogateque. One of my favorite subs on you tube is Boiler Room. If you are a fan of electronic/dance music at all, you definitely need to subscribe to that because it's typically 30-60 minute sets from big name DJ's at small underground venues. You get the chance to hear and see big name guys like Jamie XX, Four Tet, or even Thom Yorke mix a set, and at the same time see small guys like LOL Jerome or DJ Purple Image do super experimental stuff in someone's living room.
 
Last.fm is really only a tool to keep track of what you or your friends are listening to. It's not really a service comparable to Spotify or rdio. If I had to choose a subscription service it would be spotify, but only because the majority of my friends use that and stuff like playlists and favorites are all connected through facebook.
 
Blogs and smaller sites are where you get a little diversity. NPR, Pitchfork, Stereogum, Fader...they are all sorta the same.

Yours Truly is also a site that I think deserves mention. All of their videos are hosted on Vimeo, which is actually a good thing. It's smaller and focuses on video content but all of it is better than pretty much any major site. Sites like Pitchfork pay them to host their content, so you know it's good.

http://yourstru.ly
 
Podcasts, Internet Radio, SoundCloud, BandCamp, YouTube, Wikipedia reading about genres and bands, FM radio and recommendations from friends.
 
lastfm mostly.. just checking peoples charts whose taste looks good for stuff i haven't heard of

they also have some pretty good recommendations based on what you listen to

check the i love music forums occasionally

allmusic was pretty instrumental for me early on, just going thru a bunch of 5 star rated albums
 
Friends, word of mouth, soundcloud, record labels with smart owners, last.fm similar artists, music charts (not top 40s shit), mixes, beatport, Shazam..
 
Youtube : subscribing to a lot of labels' channels.
Twitter : following a ton of musicians, labels' accounts, news sites...
Looking at the upcoming releases and listening to the ones I've never heard of.
 
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