How to Find New Music • Hacker News Board

Re: How to Find New Music

#101

Post by joseph » Thu, Jan 30, 2020, 10:39 PM UTC

slouch wrote: post #70

joseph wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Spotify's algorithmic recommendations aren't very good. I use Spotify, but always build my playlists by hand, after finding music elsewhere. Typically that's Youtube, but I also follow the artists I like on twitter and get new songs from them.

What feature of Spotify was "not very good" for finding new artists? edit: possible answers might be "Artist Radio", "my Discover Weekly playlist", "Related Artists page", "my Daily Mix playlists"

I don't think Spotify has any good features for finding new artists. I've used all of the ones you mentioned and generally don't like the playlists. Usually they play songs I already know, and the new ones they introduce I just skip. I get a very small hit rate of new music to listen to from Spotify versus other channels.

Re: How to Find New Music

#102

Post by 0xdeadb00f » Thu, Jan 30, 2020, 10:45 PM UTC

dorian-graph wrote: post #87

I would add: - Radio stations, especially triple j [1] and SomaFM [2] - Hype Machine [3] with Plug (macOS) [4] - Similar artists (e.g. on Last.fm [5]) - Other artists on the same label (e.g. Ghostly [6]) - Wander through a record store - Search for one of your favourite songs and see what other user's playlists it's on - YouTube chanels (e.g. David Dean Burkhart [7]) - Bandcamp—just wander around, and also check out…

As a listener of Triple J's actual radio content; I think it's become stale and more "mainstream" in recent years however their online stuff: Unearthed, and Double J are great.

Re: How to Find New Music

#103

Post by jlarcombe » Thu, Jan 30, 2020, 10:51 PM UTC

usuallymatt wrote: post #26

dTal wrote: post #24

BBC 6 Music. Man, does that station ever have its finger on the pulse. You have to be kind of ready for anything, and it's not always easy listening, but you often get pure gold. Not uncommonly, it'll be music that isn't even released yet, or maybe only exists on the artist's Soundcloud page. As a bonus, quite a few of its DJs are famous people who you didn't know are really into some musical niche. On the other hand…

Came here to say 6Music too. It's an absolute goldmine and I've discovered some great stuff on there (Nils Frahm, Hannah Peel, Anna Meridith, Erland Cooper, Big Thief). I'm more into contemporary instrumental stuff these days but enjoy other genres, too. I usually listen to Mary-Anne Hobbs, Tom Ravenscroft, Guy Garvey, Cillian Murphy whenever he's on. Which DJs do you recommend on there?

Stewart Maconie's Freakzone for incredible stuff you won't have heard before!

Re: How to Find New Music

#104

Post by siquick » Thu, Jan 30, 2020, 11:01 PM UTC

soylentcola wrote: post #29

Other than the stuff already mentioned (subreddits, blogs, playlists, word of mouth) I discover a ton of music via human-programmed streaming "radio". I know it's not as big a thing as it was in the mid-late 2000's but there are still thousands of Shoutcast/Icecast/etc. stations and many of them are programmed by DJs, music enthusiasts, and fans. A good set of bookmarks is like having a radio dial filled with 10 or 2…

I've been a DJ/record collector for two decades, run a vinyl marketplace[0], have subscriptions to several streaming sites, and I still get so bored of my own taste and what the algorithms give me. The radio has again become a bit part of my listening in the last few years.

Personal favourites are UK's BBC 6 Music, and a small Lisbon-based station called Oxygenio[1]

[0]https://www.soundshelter.net

[1]https://www.radio.net/s/oxigenio

Re: How to Find New Music

#105

Post by dmart » Thu, Jan 30, 2020, 11:03 PM UTC

krick wrote: post #89

> Let’s start with the easy one, newly released music This kind of tedious labor isn't what comes to mind when I hear "easy" in HN-linked article. And really, what I am trying to achieve doesn't sound complicated at all: I don't even want to be notified in advance, just being told about new release even with a week delay would be fine. Yet I didn't find any efficient way to achieve it! There must be like 200 artists…

It's won't necessarily catch every single thing, but Spotify's automatically-generated weekly "Release Radar" does an excellent job of aggregating new releases for me.

I believe it's based on both artists you have explicitly followed on Spotify and also ones you've simply listened to a lot.

Re: How to Find New Music

#106

Post by dorian-graph » Thu, Jan 30, 2020, 11:05 PM UTC

0xdeadb00f wrote: post #102

dorian-graph wrote: post #87

I would add: - Radio stations, especially triple j [1] and SomaFM [2] - Hype Machine [3] with Plug (macOS) [4] - Similar artists (e.g. on Last.fm [5]) - Other artists on the same label (e.g. Ghostly [6]) - Wander through a record store - Search for one of your favourite songs and see what other user's playlists it's on - YouTube chanels (e.g. David Dean Burkhart [7]) - Bandcamp—just wander around, and also check out…

As a listener of Triple J's actual radio content; I think it's become stale and more "mainstream" in recent years however their online stuff: Unearthed, and Double J are great.

I definitely agree. Unearthed is killer for good quality, unknown music.

Re: How to Find New Music

#107

Post by romes » Thu, Jan 30, 2020, 11:06 PM UTC

i publish the albums i like most along the month. if you like what i listen to, you might like to check it once in a while.

also, the project is public on github - make your own version of it https://alt-romes.github.io/albumsofthemonth/

Re: How to Find New Music

#108

Post by usuallymatt » Thu, Jan 30, 2020, 11:19 PM UTC

jlarcombe wrote: post #103

usuallymatt wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Came here to say 6Music too. It's an absolute goldmine and I've discovered some great stuff on there (Nils Frahm, Hannah Peel, Anna Meridith, Erland Cooper, Big Thief). I'm more into contemporary instrumental stuff these days but enjoy other genres, too. I usually listen to Mary-Anne Hobbs, Tom Ravenscroft, Guy Garvey, Cillian Murphy whenever he's on. Which DJs do you recommend on there?

Stewart Maconie's Freakzone for incredible stuff you won't have heard before!

Cheers!

Re: How to Find New Music

#109

Post by davidw » Thu, Jan 30, 2020, 11:27 PM UTC

The tough part about finding new music is that there seems to be a very strong negative correlation between the formation of new bands that produce good music, and, oddly enough, the year when I turned... 25 I think. It was a while back.

Re: How to Find New Music

#110

Post by MivLives » Thu, Jan 30, 2020, 11:28 PM UTC

fetus8 wrote: post #28

Anyone remember back on what.cd the related artists "web" system? That was my favorite way to find music, and since the site's demise, I have yet to find a comparable way of discovering similar artists. Luckily back then, I started following many of my favorite artists and labels on social media, which sort of created a new wave of recommendations based on what those artists are talking about. It works, but it's not…

Freeleech was one of my favorite ways to discover new music on What.cd even with a buffer well built I'd go for it anyway just to see if I could find something new I liked.