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Discovering New Music?
captainclever asks: "As an avid music fan, I'm keen on discovering new artists that I will like. I have discovered a few by listening to internet radio, and writing down the names of songs that take my fancy. I had a play with The Digital Music Network, but it was very intrusive, full of adverts and only worked in Windows. I found it quite a hard topic to google for as there is so much stuff about music. Has anyone come accoss a decent system that can suggest some good artists to me based on my existing listening habbits?" Word of mouth, of course, is the tried and true method of promoting a new group. Are there weblogs that allow users to discuss music much like Slashdot discusses "news"?
Go to amazon and see what other people have bought based on a music selection. I've used this before and found some great new music.
on SomaFM. Donate as it's 100% non-profit.
sulli
RTFJ.
I often run across blogs that discuss music, but most of them are specialized (lots of metal). And even from what I find, I've found it increasingly difficult to read about what others think about a particular song. I mean, writing about music is like dancing to a book.
Sex - Find It
If you want to discover new music, why do you want something to give you suggestions based on stuff you already know?
Ask your friends what they like... download random songs, etc. One of my favorite ways is to browse other users' files on file sharing programs. Who knows, you might find something completely new and unexpected.
That's how I discovered Apocalyptica - rock'n'roll on cellos - and Our Lady Peace.
No matter what city I go to, there's usually a college radio station.
I'm actually in college, and I volunteer at one, so I'm probably a little biased, but college radio is by far the most progressive of all radio.
If you can stomach newswires being read by teenagers who barely have any grasp of proper English or public speaking skills, college radio is a great way to find stuff off the mainstream, particularly if it's a station with a good-sized audience, like WSOU from Seton Hall. For those outside the central-NJ area, they do web-cast.
Karma: Excellent, but still won't get you laid.
Try this site: www.gnoosic.com. Based on what you like, it will give you similiar artists.
http://artists.iuma.com/ and for an example here is a page where you can download the songs, etc. here
Of course, it's been a while since I used it, so your experience may vary.
--Mike--
At the Borders near me they have a setup with a pair of headphones and an infrared bar code scanner. You can pick any CD off the shelf, scan it, and can then listen to a minute or so of any track. I believe the system imposes a very faint intermittent beep over the audio, too, for obvious reasons--I couldn't hear it on all tracks.
It made for a very pleasant and educational half hour of music browsing for me (annoying, though, that about 2/3 of the stations were mal/nonfunctioning).
It's gnod.
From the page:
Gnod is a self-adapting system that learns about the outer world by asking its visitors what they like and what they don't like. In this instance of gnod all is about music. Gnod is kind of a search engine for music you don't know about. It will ask you what music you like and then think about what you might like too. When I set gnod online its database was completely empty. Now it contains thousands of bands and quite some knowledge about who likes what. And gnod learns more every day. Enjoy :o)
Actually, before AudioGalaxy got sued into ashes, they had a great feature in their search mechanism that when you searched for an artist or title, it would show what other people who searched for that title had also search for.
I really like the drum n bass duo Lamb and thanks to this feature at audio galaxy I was introduced to the Sneaker Pimps and Hooverphonic.
Err, I mean I rushed right out to my local national chain music store and purchased the CDs.
You kind of get this when you browse through Amazon.com's "other people purchased" links.
::.. check out some Cell Phone Reviews
like this. it's a really cool engine somebody built that takes information on what you like and suggests other bands. definitely click the "related bands" link under the suggested band it pops out. i realize that this is probably dooming somebody's server to a firey death, but maybe go back in a week or so. ;-) take what it suggests and pop over to shoutcast to look for stations streaming those (sorts of) bands. if you like what you hear, go to your local independent CD shop and buy it, making sure to tell them "yeah, I heard this music online from an mp3 station and now i want to buy it from you". most of the record store owners I know think that mp3s are satan incarnate, helping them see the benefits of fluid, low/no-barrier music preview and discovery would be a good thing long term...
News for Geeks in Austin, TX
They have so many genres to explore. Give it a try, and it sounds PERFECT. The record companies should be paying these guys for all the free advertising shoutcast streamers are doing. I buy so many CDs from hearing songs I like on there.
In general, I find using any of these sites, including and especially MP3.com, to find decent music you haven't heard elsewhere is a ton of work. I continue to contend that, when someone comes up with a decent business model, services which suggest new music will make more money than companies which sell music. I have yet to see one that I think actually works. This is a difficult task: music is an intensely personal decision and relying on suggestions of others takes trust. I really wonder what ever happend to firefly, and the host of other sites that purported to use neural networks to suggest music based on you rating stuff you know you liked. I think these agent based approaches are more likely to succeed than something like a web log or zine.
"If you are an idealist it doesn't matter what you do or what goes on around you, because it isn't real anyway."-R.P.W.
Get out of the house and go to shows! Pick up a copy of the "alternative" newspaper in your town, see what's going on, and hit the clubs. When you find bands you like, buy their CDs, talk to them about what music they like, check out their websites, and take it from there. One thing will lead to another, and another, and before you know it you'll be plugged into another whole scene you never knew existed.
Who knows, you might even make some friends and meet some girls.
I just saw this On edgey's page:
i'll be removing my tracks from online... albeit no cost to those that download, it was a source of income for myself, and such the case, i offered my music free of charge for download to anyone that wanted. The lack of commercial (or independent) releases i've had over the years, was justified by the fact that i still maintained an income off my music, from MP3.com... a goal i think every musician wishes to achieve (unless your one of those that likes to point fingers and call someone a sell-out for wanting to be heard and monetarily successful with their craft).
so needless to say... all my tracks will be removed from online, i can't afford the $20.00 a month to continue their premium artist service, i.e., i can't pay for people to listen to my music...
so, get your downloads before they're gone...
All artists on MP3.com will have to reduce their pages to a maximum of 3 tracks as of January 15th, or PAY for their once free-offered service.
quoted from mp3.com:
"P4P Promotion Will be Discontinued
It's our goal to offer Premium Artists the best service for their money and tools that benefit all members. But this was getting more difficult given the enormous accounting, engineering, research and fulfillment costs that went into both the P4P promotion and regrettably, the monitoring of individuals gaming the system. We have thus decided to discontinue the P4P promotion on January 15.
Artist Cash Program Will be Discontinued
Accounting and engineering resource issues associated with the P4P promotion apply also to the Artist Cash program. This has made it necessary for us to discontinue one of our more convenient Artist programs. If you are currently paying for any subscriptions with Artist Cash, please go to your My Account to easily create an alternate payment method. "
I've got two ways that I do this:
1. Amazon (I preferred CD-NOW, but now everything is Amazon). Enter in your favorites, and it'll make suggestions based on what other people buy who like music similar to you. Works very well.
2. Launch.com. It's Yahoo now, but Yahoo didn't change the basics... it's still the best streaming radio out there. You continually tweak what songs/artists/albums/genres that you like for your own radio station, and you can also set how much "other music" is inserted into your radio station. That "other music" that's inserted is music that other people with tastes similar to yours also like. Even better than the Amazon thing, since you get to hear the music right away without actively doing anything. Also, I like Yahoo a smidgen more than I like Amazon.
Some folks have been known to get weirded out by this.
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
I'd love to see a service like Citysearch (which posts, amoung other things, listings of bands playing in your local area, as long as your local area is somewhat metropolitan), but that actually linked to samples of the band's music, and had the ability to quickly listen to a bunch of samples for bands playing tonight. You could do a ton of tie-ins: buy CDs, buy tickets, buy shirts, send mail to the band, etc.
"If you are an idealist it doesn't matter what you do or what goes on around you, because it isn't real anyway."-R.P.W.
I think it is plain to see that certain people tend to like certain genres. Sure, some of us are downright ecclectic -- I like Aphex Twin, Bjork, T.A.T.U., Smiths, Squarepusher, Busta Rhymes, Tom Waits, De La Soul, Guster, etc, etc -- but those who like opera, for example, are probably good sources on where you can find more of the same.
So if you're not averse to using file-sharing programs such as Gnutella et al, I would suggest looking for songs you already like and instead of downloading the songs you find (or in addition to), browsing the files of the people who have those songs. This way you can make as big a leap as you want.
Since this is human-based I think you'll find similar tastes that jump genres, something that even the most clever algorithm is likely to miss, and will do precisely what you're seeking; introduction to new sounds.
Also, you might consider stuff like MP3.com. I've found a lot of stuff that is unknown only for lack (or refusal) of a record deal.
My
Limekiller
Garageband.com has great selections of independent bands. There's a big mixture of quality on the site, but you can find some of the best stuff in the charts there, and check the playlists recommended by bands you like.
They also have a ridiculously cheap subscription service that allows you to get CDs of some of the best tracks on the site on a monthly basis.
++ Say to Elrond "Hello.".
Elrond says "No.". Elrond gives you some lunch.
I'm a huge fan of independent and college radio stations, but even then, most of these stations are "programmed" by genre, and I would rather listen to a station that is completely unpredictable, where you might hear the Dead Kennedys followed by Jurassic 5, followed by Johnny Cash, etc. IOW, true "Freeform Radio". KEXP radio in Seattle, I have found, is one of the best freeform stations in the world. They even have an UNCOMPRESSED stream of their broadcast available (sure, it's Windows Media format, but it's still a neat idea), in addition to WMP, MP3 and RealAudio streams. Also dig the real-time playlist!. This is a great way to discover and document cool music that you've never heard before.
No, no, no. This is not a sig.
May I suggest IPM Radio as a good way to learn about music?
They've been broadcasting for over 4 years now, and I have to say that in the year I've been attending broadcasts, I have found a lot of new types of music I like.
There is a weekly 6-8 hour live show, that starts at about 8:30 PM EST every friday, with real audio and MPEG-4/AAC versions showing up in the archives a few days later.
Ogg streams might be possible, if someone can direct me to an OGG streamer that lets clients skip around in the streams, like Quicktime/Mpeg-4/AAC does.
here is the link to the mpeg-4 version of the 4th anniversary show as a sample.
has tons of barely heard of artists, links similar artists and groups together. good stuff.
This is still how I find CDs to buy. (Net radio is rather difficult when you can only get 28.8 where you live.)
If you're into progressive rock, and even if you're not, and especially if you think you're not, then I highly suggest you check out the New Gibraltar Encyclopedia of Progressive Rock. This is a simply awesome resource for finding new music to hunt down and listen to. In addition to the aforementioned encyclopedia, the GEPR has its' own webzine and you'll find links to many sites which review prog rock discs.
Although I have personally not listened to their Live365 stream (dial up line -- not enough bandwidth), ProgRock.com has an informative website and a very active discussion forum.
One streaming radio station that I listen to a lot, often for hours, is Delicious Agony. They play a good mix of both classics and new progressive music. Highly recommended. A great benefit of streaming radio is that you can see the playlist while listening and in progrock.com's case, there will also be links to where you can buy the music and to the artists' homepages. Happy hunting.
I wonder if he's heard of AmpCast. A moderation system (as someone else asked for), and I understand that the artist gets $0.05 per download.
A musician friend of mine left MP3.com for them about a year ago because of MP3.com's shitty service...
Never never never smoke crack before geometry class!
They might group you with others who prefer clean underwear. Then again, maybe not.
Finding new music is like stepping stones; you go from one to the next to the next. So when you find music you like, you look at similar music.
Fundamentally, you will need to sample bands and be disappointed a lot. The proof of the pudding is in the tasting.
And watch how their recommendation bots bring you the latest in totally irrelevant-to-your-taste artists, and steer you toward kitchen gadgets and other sundries you never knew you needed.
XM Satellite radio has a channel called "Unsigned", that plays nothing but unsigned bands from around the U.S. Most of it's really good. The also have links on their website to the websites of all the bands they play that have websites.
They have a sample stream of the station on their website, but I think it's in a Windows Media format.
"If English was good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for everyone else."
Do as some creative Fruheads have done. Create a website for your favorite bands fans.
Then, create a section for recommending music.
For example, people who like Moxy Fruvous also like:
They Might Be Giants, Guster, BNL, Great Big Sea, The Beatles, Ben Folds (Five), Arrogant Worms, Eddie From Ohio, The Nields, and more.
Of course, that's a lot of work...
You could also check out sites like Diaryland.com or Livejournal.com. Look at music people like, and see what else they like. Livejournal has "interests" with which you can search for people.
It's not exactly automated, but, with some luck, you might be able to find a few different things.
--You will rephrase your request for me to go to hell. Goto statements are not acceptable programming constructs
10 Reasons You Should Check Out CD Baby:
- Using Kazaa, search for a favourite artist. Go and browse the collection of someone with a lot of that artist. Download one track from every artist whose music/name you don't know
- Look up favourites on Amazon, and as well as reading the "other people bought..." section, read the comments, they often mention other bands. I've found a few this way.
- Search on Google Groups. See who is talking about a favourite artist. Who else are they talking about?
- Try and find like minded friends. I find this hard as my tastes are fairly esoteric, but I've got one or two friends who aren't too far off, and I have some good discoveries through them.
- Use Launch. It takes a while but once you've customised it enough it does make pretty good suggestions every now and again. I've discovered at least 2 favourite bands via launch. Also good to listen to at work.
- Find a radio station that plays interesting music. My personal favourite is WFMU - mostly shows are rubbish, but a few real gems in there (your mileage may vary). Browse the playlists. Some of the radio stations have "top 100 most played songs for 200x" lists - these are great.
- Just keep your eyes open. You'll find stuff when you least expect it.
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