Ask HN: How do you discover new music?

How do you find new music these days like Nirvana, GNR, Metallica, or Kula Shaker? I use YT, Amazon Music, and Spotify.

Recommendation algos sometimes surface artists I haven't heard, but from the same time period. Or they will mix them up and after a rock song, it might play a rock-a-bye-baby lullaby. I need this feature, "Since you like Estranged you might like XYZ: a new emerging artist, with excellent lyrics and guitar."

Are we just not there yet in terms of tech? Or is this user error?

rateyourmusic. It has a recommendation algorithm that is definitely better than Spotify's* (it's tweakable too!), but the real ticket is reading the endless user generated reviews and lists. You can browse genres by top-rated albums, there are featured reviews from all kinds of genres on the front page, there's a featured list page or you can find lists albums were mentioned in on their album page then check out that list to see what users categorized it with. If you get bored, you can click on a user's review on an album you like and see what other albums they rated highly. Maybe you have similar interests and find your next favorite album.

*Only issue I have with the recommendation algorithm is that once you rate an album it isn't removed from the recommendation list. Makes me doubt what the algorithm is actually taking into consideration when generating a list.

I stopped using streaming services as I tend not to listen to music in the way they want. I always listen to full albums in order and tend to listen to albums on repeat. I tend to focus on my music, and want zero interruptions, so an offline, dedicated music player works best for me. I can't stand my music randomly disappearing, so I purchase it all. That means I am reliant on finding new recommendations based on something other than my listening history!

I primarily subscribe to the RSS feeds of a few smaller review sites and blogs. I listen to a specific subgenre of metal, and so angrymetalguy.com is one of my favorites.

I also heavily use bandcamp. Because I listen to a more niche subgenre, the labels tend to be small, independent labels that only focus on that genre. So I subscribe directly to the labels in bandcamp, as they advertise new artists and releases on their label.

Bandcamp only supports using their in browser feed or getting emails, which I find annoying. So I use imapfilter to automatically convert those bandcamp emails into an RSS feed.

I also follow a few subreddits that just post new music for very niche genres to help find some things I might have missed. I also pull these in via RSS.

Tried and true: every once in a while I look at Billboard Hot 100 and other ratings. The top pop artists are not necessarily awesome but often further down the list is good stuff not in high rotation on the ‘trending’ lists.

I pick a genre like "Russian Doomer" or "French Electronica", then listen to the many hours long compilations on YouTube and save the songs I like.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_genre