I’ve been meaning to stop my Spotify sub because saving more money how ever small it may be. But I kind of like the discovery part of it.
Been using YouTube (Music) again for music listening honestly because it does have YouTube only artists and songs (not in an official partnership or similar, just that that’s where people only upload there to share kind of thing), as well as live versions and in general the tons of covers, remixes and such.
Truth be told I like what YTM algorithm gives me recently.
Having said that, I am open to hear suggestions that further divorces from big tech.
I don’t mind for anime/movies/shows as I rely on word of mouth in the various chat groups I’m already in. Maybe I should extend to music focused groups too?
I ask my friends. Well, friend.
Honestly, the recommendations from Spotify are often terrible, but occasionally give me something I like. I believe that free Spotify still has recommendations, does it not?
The other thing is radio. Yes, radio! Find a station you like and stream it, since they’re all streaming now as well as broadcasting.
I go to the record store with my friends and we just grab cheap CDs that look cool and then listen to them in the car after. We’ve found some interesting things by doing that.
I buy CDs 5 for a dollar at a thrift store, and check out YT if I’m looking for something different.
Welp. Spotify. Lol. I don’t listen to anything mainstream, so I eventually get recommended new things I like.
Other than that, I sometimes listen to Twitch DJ streams, and there’s occasionally songs that really catch my attention that way.
I like to listen to internet radio. There are plenty of stations for different genres.
If you’re on Linux, shortwave even allows you to immediately save a local recording if you like a track.
Any suggestions?
I’ll be on Linux Soon™️ so I’ll check that out when I cross the bridge.
Personally I really like jungletrain.net
No need to wait for Linux to listen to internet radio. With individual song metadata. Soma.fm. Bagel Radio for guitary stuff. 9128.live for amazing Ambient mixes.
There’s also NTS.live, Lyl Radio, Dublab etc… but they don’t always show per-track metadata.
Or right here on Fediverse. Just search for Music communities. I already found a few new artists here.
Gigs. Either just buying tickets to random local venues. Our go see your favourite artists live, but make sure you get there early enough to see the openers.
I’ve discovered so many amazing bands because they opened for bands I already knew I liked.
If you can’t physically get to gigs then you can even just look up who your favourite artists are touring with, that will give you a pretty good sense of them being similar.
Wish I could do that. I don’t have local venues, unfortunately, and I rarely work up the motivation and gas money to haul myself 90 mins down the interstate to the nearest spot of civilization for some music. Occasionally, but not enough to integrate with the scene in any substantial way. I mainly discover music on lemmy, tbh, through music-focused communities. I feel that it works pretty well.
It’s always a treat when the support band is better than the one you came for
I wish the bigger international bands i listen to would come to my country often. But then it would cost a lot.
But I get you though. I am friends with a weekend band that also has friends with other more “serious” underground bands. Been going to more and more gigs and helping out and actually discovered more songs and bands like this.
It’s great! You’re also supporting the local scene which is massively important.
Cancelling Spotify will not only save you money, it will help to save music. They’re shafting smaller artists, paying peanuts to the rest, and flooding the platform with AI slop so they don’t have to pay as much to real artists. Fuck Spotify.
Bandcamp and Soundcloud are what I mainly use.
Bandcamp and SoundCloud does sound better for smaller artists as I understand. Alas I still listen to big artists.
Edit: I do still let in newsletters from an artist on bandcamp, Jim Guthrie. I think he did the OST for FTL game. Should check him again. And go from there for discovering new artists on bandcamp
Bandcamp, I follow a bunch of labels that’ve done releases I like and have set up a bunch of genre tags, I’ll go through every so often and go through releases, see what jumps out at me.
Otherwise, there’s a few reviewers I’ve come to trust over the years, my partner likes angrymetalguy and both follow Rez Metal Podcast. Otherwise it’s forums, Lemmy, reddit or other online community.
I recommend Radio Paradise! It’s an independent online radio stream with a great, eclectic selection and no ads, except the occasional reminder that they are donation financed. It’s honestly one if not the best radio stream there is.
Jumping on to also recommend Chirp, the Chicago Independent Radio Project. Live volunteer DJs, no ads.
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Nice. M3U saved
Thanks, will check it out!
NPR tiny desk concert
Graphical way of searching by a given artist and the results are shown based on who is most similar (closer to center) and who is least similar (farthest from center). Love searching this way.
I’ve also used YouTube to search for a familar artist and then I’ll go through the suggestions to see if I find anything interesting.
Internet radio (especially soma.fm) and reading blogs (Hearing Things, Ether Diver).
Another vote for internet radio. Adding Bagel Radio for guitary stuff. Oh and 9128.live for amazing Ambient mixes.
thanks for the suggestion! 9128 will now live in my internet radio app, very good ambients
oh hey ambient mixes! thanks for recommendation, I’ll check it out
KEXP is great and listener funded radio. In Canada we have CKUA in Alberta that is independent and listener funded as well.
University radio is also a great place to find new artists.
Some of the live performances on KEXP have been fantastic, too
“Some” is a vast understatement.
Most local libraries have CDs. The library is about as far as you can get from big tech because they are made to serve you instead of make a profit.
For discovery— do you have a community radio station. There’s one near me that cycles through different genres and DJs. And just talk to people. Make it a conversation starter when ever you meet someone.
Really should step into a library again. Last I went to one is during college 10 or more years ago lol.
Good suggestion on local community radio. I’ll have to see if there’s one in my country/state.
I went to one for the first time in 8 years a couple of weeks ago. Next time I go I’ll be enjoying the little café they have and joining in on their creative writing course!
I didn’t realise how many little events and classes happen in my local library, and most of them are either completely free or cost next to nothing.
Rate Your Music is a great resource for discovery, if a bit snobby.
