[gidgiddonihah]

I was just curious how you guys at Head-Fi find new artists and music. I myself use Pandora and then add music to my Spotify playlists (Spotify's radio sucks). I also find an artist I like and then will go through Spotify's similar artists which has led me to some good stuff. If I like an album enough I will order a CD through Amazon. If its something special and recorded well I consider getting it from a high resolution store. I look forward to hearing more ideas.
 
(Edit) I have been slammed with work and some personal projects and so its taken me more time than I would like to update this, sorry about the delay.  Please let me know how you like the format and keep in mind that I am slowly adding what is still here: this is a work in progress 

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Websites:

1. bandcamp
2. Music Plasma (Very Cool!)
3. Amazon Recommendations (Recommends on Browsing/Purchase History)
4. YouTube
5. Last.fm
6. Promo Bay
7. thesixtyone
8. kollection
9. SoundCloud

 
 
[size=medium]Music Blogs:[/size]

1. 2DBZ (Hip Hop)

 
[size=medium]Online Radios:[/size]

1. Pandora
2. Spotify

 
[size=medium]'Old School' Radio Stations:[/size]

1. .

 
TV/Movie/DVD/Blu-ray:

1. Theme Time Radio Hour

 
[size=medium]Magazines/Newsletters (Email Included):[/size]

1. Music Mag
2. UNCUT
3. MOJO
4. AllMusic
5. elusive disc
6. HDtracks

 
[size=medium]Other (May split into other categories later):[/size]

1. Local Shops
2. Local Libraries
3. Head-Fi "What are You Listening To Right Now?"

 

[Jamesy1969]

As I'm very, very old (well, 43) I still, at least in part, rely on magazine reviews (only from the few magazines I trust) and friends' recommendations.

I've tried recommendations from robots but it's generally not to be relied upon, in my experience!

 

[Jasper9395]

I also think magazine reviews are quite good. I used to have a subscription to a music mag when I lived back in Holland. The good thing about magazines is that you read the whole thing instead of just focusing on specific niches which I think happens a bit with playlist. Some of my friends who are not into hifi love grooveshark and spotify but I cant stand the quality. They obviously think I am a little crazy. Being an audiophile can be a bit of a course some times. There are also some friends which I always love to ask for advice because I know they have good taste. I also like to make list of music people mention in conversation on my phone so I don't forget. I usually try to listen to it first on spottily, or youtue, if there are good quality downloads available I do download. I also have a record player which is another great way to find new (old) music. I think it would be great to buy up someones old record collection who has a good taste in music, I am sure I would discover lots of great stuff. 2nd hand stores are also good for this, they often sell really cheap records so it really does not hurt your wallet to try out some random stuff. I have recently also been enjoying BBC radio 6, they really play some great tunes on there. This is due to my girlfriend moving in and bringing her radio with her. I am thinking of buying a more 'hifi' one now 

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[Jamesy1969]

Quote:

I also think magazine reviews are quite good. I used to have a subscription to a music mag when I lived back in Holland. The good thing about magazines is that you read the whole thing instead of just focusing on specific niches which I think happens a bit with playlist. Some of my friends who are not into hifi love grooveshark and spotify but I cant stand the quality. They obviously think I am a little crazy. Being an audiophile can be a bit of a course some times. There are also some friends which I always love to ask for advice because I know they have good taste. I also like to make list of music people mention in conversation on my phone so I don't forget. I usually try to listen to it first on spottily, or youtue, if there are good quality downloads available I do download. I also have a record player which is another great way to find new (old) music. I think it would be great to buy up someones old record collection who has a good taste in music, I am sure I would discover lots of great stuff. 2nd hand stores are also good for this, they often sell really cheap records so it really does not hurt your wallet to try out some random stuff. I have recently also been enjoying BBC radio 6, they really play some great tunes on there. This is due to my girlfriend moving in and bringing her radio with her. I am thinking of buying a more 'hifi' one now 

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I may have to have a listen to Radio 6. I previously discovered a lot of new music through radio - primarily anything on Radio 1 after 10pm - especially in the classic 80s & 90s periods. Specifically, I could probably blame 90% of my music taste on the late, great John Peel. Also, radio (especially a good FM station, whilst they still survive) has the potential to sound so much better than most streaming options!
 
There are great, great writers and I love reading magazines, but there are restrictions and Frank Zappa may have had a point when he said that "writing about music is like dancing about architecture."

 

[gidgiddonihah]

Quote:

Some of my friends who are not into hifi love grooveshark and spotify but I cant stand the quality.

 
Have you tried their premium service?  They stream 320Kbps Ogg Vorbis which sounds great to me.  When running Fidelify it sounds that much better.  Fidelify has revealed that there are a few titles still in the 160 range, but 99% of what I have listened to is 320.  Sounds just as good as my MP3 collection which is all VBR MP3 and to my understanding most people can't tell the difference between FLAC and a good MP3 (and Vorbis is better than MP3's at lower bitrates). Not saying you can't, just wondering if you had tried their higher quality service 

.  
 
Pandora is something I can't do for actual listening.  Their free quality makes me shudder and I tried their Pandora One and didn't think much of their 192 encoding. Not tried Grooveshark but from what I understand it suffers from quality due it its users doing the uploading.  

 
(Edit) Didn't even know there were magazines that recommended music.  Guess I am just too young 

.  Anyone have any suggestions to good titles?

 

[KamijoIsMyHero]

Music blogs dedicated to a specific genre and youtube

 

[Jasper9395]

Quote:

 
Have you tried their premium service? 

 
 
Hey, I've not tried their premium service but 320 Ogg Vorbis would me more than bearable. I was not aware of the ins and outs of all the different streaming services out there. Its really something to investigate. Thanks!
 
Quote:

 
I may have to have a listen to Radio 6. 

 
You, should try listening to Craig Charles funk and soul show on Saturday, its great fun. 
Quote:

 
Have you tried their premium service?  

 
(Edit) Didn't even know there were magazines that recommended music.  Guess I am just too young 

.  Anyone have any suggestions to good titles?

 
In the UK we used to have The Word magazine which was independent but it has stopped publication in 2012 

. I am not that old iether btw just 23 haha. 

 

[mastershake2393]

I usually go to boards.4chan.org/mu/ or sputnikmusic.com

There's plenty of hyperbole coming from each site, but I've found so much of what I listen to on either of those sites that their drama is fine by me :rolleyes:

 

[GrindingThud]

http://bandcamp.com/discover

 

[kuhchuk]

I find my music in a ton of different places. 
 
As awfully plebeian (and age-revealing) as it is, my first real introduction to music came from Guitar Hero.  While a lot of it was mostly pop-rock/pop-metal (most of which I detest today) there were a lot of great songs and artists riddled into the track lists of those games. 
 
That's what initially got me into music, and I just kind of searched for similar artists from there, but since then, I've come to rely on a select few my friends a lot.  We may not have identical taste in music, but most of the stuff they listen to is pretty good. 
 
I'm also a HUGE fan of bandcamp, and I'd have to say a good 30-40% of the artists in my library were discovered on bandcamp.  While you do have to sift through mountains of **** (being that anyone can post their music) there are TONS of great artists and hidden gems in their ranks.  I can also thank bandcamp for my massive addiction to Sludge and Doom Metal, with my sludge/doom collection topping off at around 38 hours of material alone. 
 
 
I've recently discovered last.fm's audioscrobbler, and I'm hoping that after I feed it a decent amount of information on my tastes, it'll be able to provide me with some new tunes.  Fingers are crossed on that one.

 

[Jasper9395]

Check this out: http://www.musicplasma.com
 
It creates visual maps of similar artist. Here I started by searching 'the doors' then clicked on Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship. Its a really neat idea but it lacks the most recent and obscure artist though. I've not used it for a couple of years but you do always end up finding something new or being reminded of an artist. 
 
 
 

 

[kuhchuk]

Quote:

Check this out: http://www.musicplasma.com

That's definitely pretty neat.  I'm gonna be toying around with this for quite some time.

 

[Jamesy1969]

Quote:

That's definitely pretty neat.  I'm gonna be toying around with this for quite some time.

 
I still wouldn't trust it like a friend but...fcuk me....that is totally cool!

 

[gidgiddonihah]

Thanks for all that great ideas.  The music plasma chart thing is pretty amazing.  I may subscribe to a magazine too while I am at it.  Don't see any specific suggestions.  Any ideas? 

 

[Jamesy1969]

I don't know US mags (assuming that's where you are?) but UK titles I'd recommend are Uncut and Mojo. Neither are genre specific...they just cover "good" music.