[dasadab]

I mostly stream music from Qobuz and Apple Music (Lossless). I waste soooo much time searching, rather than listening, I am starting to think that ”the search” has taken over from ”the listening.” I do look to reviews from the NYT and do sometime look for suggestions of members, but I find it’s too easy to get drawn into the streaming services’ recommendations or “latest hits” or “curated for you”, etc. Other than therapy, can you pass on your tips for the musicial journey of discovery. I listen to pretty much everything, but lean towards classical, jazz, rock, and world music.
Thanks!

 

[pk4425]

I go to the New Releases section of allmusic.com every Friday. If there's a new release that intrigues me or is from a band I like, I put the review of that album in a bookmark folder. I then listen to each of those albums, keeping the ones I like. I tend to cast a wide sonic net with this method and have found a lot of bands and artists this way.

That's the only music "discovery" I pursue, other than recommendations from bandmates or songs I hear when we're hanging out before or after rehearsals or gigs. Otherwise, I tend to listen to full albums or individual tracks instead of playlists. Guess I'm old school -- or just old.

 

[megabigeye]

I have a turntable, so going to my local record shops is a fun way to discover new music. It happens that one of the shops is highly curated and has a selection that I really enjoy. Buying physical media is my favorite method of discovery because it requires a commitment to the spirit of discovery and learning about new things. Even though my wife doesn't really share my taste in music, she's a really good shopping partner and always finds me something great that I've overlooked.
Heck, sometimes I buy music based on the album art. I've discovered some great stuff that way... Of course, I've discovered some absolute trash, too.

I'll also look at the "Similar Artists" section on Apple Music and have had some decent success with that. I found that the similar feature on Spotify did not ever meet my standards, though.

If there's an artist I like, sometimes I'll look at AllMusic to see what else they've done. Sometimes a member of a band does solo stuff or was also a member of another band, then I can go from there. AllMusic also has lots of other features, like "Related Artists," "styles," and "moods" to help find similar music.
I enjoy reading the reviews on AllMusic, but I don't generally agree with them. A lot of times I like the stuff that they give a pretty poor review to, and dislike the stuff that they enjoy.

If a TV show or movie has a decent soundtrack, I'll look it up on Apple Music and have discovered several artists that way.

I used to work at a bookstore and we got both "Uncut" and "Mojo" magazines, both of which come with a sampler CD. Sometimes I'd strike gold, sometimes I'd strike out. I don't know if either of those magazines still exists or if they still include CDs.

Least frequently now, I'll learn about new stuff from friends. This was the best when I was in my teens and twenties and friends were plentiful and, by some miracle, most of them had similar tastes to my own.

 

[Ufanco]

Streaming music has been a lifeline for finding new music. I normal start my day with Tidal‘s my daily discovers and then listen playlist.
Under search is search by decades and I listen to top hits from each year. Currently up to year 2002 Starting out at 1966 most years it’s about 100 songs. I save the most liked to favorites.

 

[Selrisitai]

I listen exclusively to metal, and most of that is either power metal or adjacent thereto.
I used to download "demos" of albums that I would "sample," and if I liked then I would buy.
Now I just listen to one of the three or so Youtube channels out there showing off new stuff. Sometimes I use Bandcamp. If I like something I'll add it to my Bandcamp wishlist. If the band is not on Bandcamp then I'll add it to my Discog's wishlist.
In order to actually find the bands in the first place I just did a filtered search for "power metal" on Encyclopaedia Metallum.

 

[FranckZZZ]

Most overrated headphones?

 

[megabigeye]

Most overrated headphones?

I think you want this thread.

 

[carbonF1]

Do you use auto-play or play next features? When I'm out and about, I'll start with something I like, then just let the music keep playing. I've found quite a bit of music this way.

 

[Elegiac]

Recommendations are fine, but limiting.

Come at things from a different angle: browse by album covers that you like, band names that strike you as cool... certain combinations of words, or genres. 'Venezuelan Jazz Giraffe'. Go weird with it. Often this won't work, but when it does it's very satisfying.

And there are things that cut across all types of music... thoughtful music, meditative music, energetic music, aggressive music. Figure out what you like and try to find different styles of it... I like aggressive ambient, so I like Noise or Drone Metal.

But relax, always relax... these things take time. The 'map' of music in my head is over a decade in construction, and it'll never stop growing

 

[RONJA MESCO]

For me, I still keep up with the speciality music channels on cable (they still exist actually) and lots of indie and underground artists that dont get wide exposure end up on them ...plus if you follow enough hifi reviewers online, you often get a awesome mix of new selections as they review gear.

 

[moriez]

One thing I've learned is that you can't hear them all. I used to want to not miss any release but the supply online is just overwhelming. To have some life besides music I'm making choices and am narrowing searches down to a bit more randomness like picking an interesting artist name, album title/artwork or checking out an (unknown) label. What's cool about websites like Discogs and Bandcamp is diving deep. Both their recommendations ''similar to'' algorithm doesn't work very well in my experience but a good amount of mouseclicks is bound to give you something interesting. Discogs also shows clickable artists aliases, collaborations and label mates to check out.

Bottom line because you feel you're wasting time, you probably need to try becoming more efficient.

 

[megabigeye]

Oh yeah, record labels.
Sometimes I'll check out my favorite artists' record labels' websites to see if they carry any other artists I might enjoy.

 

[Elegiac]

Bottom line because you feel you're wasting time, you probably need to try becoming more efficient.

I agree that the OP is too inefficient. They need to run some numbers and devise a better system for getting that music in.

I would suggest aiming for a quota of 10 albums per day of music that they can listen to with at least an 85% enjoyment rate. They probably won't hit that quota straight away, but when they do, they can bump the quota up to fifteen, and an enjoyment rate of at least 90%. In a years time the OP should be able to find 30 albums per day while consistently hitting an enjoyment rate of somewhere between 106-111%.

 

[WorksUnit]

^ ^
For me the majority of discovery is Bandcamp, niche Youtube Channels, Amazon Music and HeadFi.

However I have learnt to make time to listen to a few specialist radio shows again.
If nothing OMG jumps straightaway out that doesn`t matter....(and it will given find the right shows)....just passively listening makes that odd discovery even sweeter.

 

[Smaug1]

My best method so far is to read the “What are you listening to now” threads. You’ll find a few guys who have similar taste in music and just sample it on YouTube or Apple Music to see if you like it.