Discovering New Music in 2024

04/04 2024

Discovering new music has never been as easy nor as hard. With streaming services like Spotify we get limitless access to practically every album ever released for basically nothing. But then why, I asked myself a couple of months ago, do I listen to the same music over and over again? The answer is obvious and true: I didn't try. It is comfortable and easy to listen to what you've always listened to. However, I don't think it explains it fully. The issue for me at least --- and I suspect for many others --- is that streaming services are skewed towards playlists and singles. I think I've found an enjoyable way to discover new music.

Bandcamp

Of course Bandcamp is on a list to discover new music in 2024. It needs no introduction. You buy music. You download that music. Bam. I mostly discover new music through two methods:

  1. Bandcamp Daily: curated lists on certain artists and genres. I try to go through each 'Best X albums of MONTH/YEAR' each month and give them a listen for the genres that I enjoy.
  2. Supported by: clicking on any album you enjoy and then just clicking on people that have bought that album and discover what they also have in their collection. Found some of my favorite albums of 2023 this way.

Internet radio (SomaFM)

If I'm not in the mood for anything special I'll usually opt for silence; however, those times when I crave some kind of distraction, but not anything in particular, I'll pop on some internet radio. SomaFM, especially the Indie Pop Rocks! station, is great. I've discovered a lot of great music there. But any internet radio is great to mix things up, and possibly discover a new artist in the process.

Taming the Spotify Algorithm

Maybe it's just me, but my Spotify recommendations are atrocious. I don't think I've ever been recommended something new that I enjoyed. My homepage is mostly just full of things I've either already listened to, or some old album from the 80s. To discover new albums in a genre I have to go to a link that I've bookmarked (for Country/Folk it's this link for example) which I cannot save in my library for some reason. All in all, it's pretty frustrating. So, I currently don't use the algorithm at all, except for one thing: the Fans also like section of artists. I try to go on there when I'm feeling an itch for something new, just go to some artist and crawl that section until I find something I like. The search itself is fun! Whenever I find something I like I save the album and listen to it all the way through in one go.

Beyond The Playlist

This way of listening to music is practically devoid of the playlist. In fact, I don't really listen to music that way anymore. Now, whenever I want to listen to music, I just open Spotify or Airsonic, pick an album and listen to it. It feels cliche to say at this point when every kind of influencer and social media guru is saying it, but there is something refreshing about being very intentional and minimal in ones consumption of even something as limitless as music is today. Because creating music is difficult, really difficult, especially good music. It feels good to give it the respect it deserves, both in terms of money (buying albums on Bandcamp), or in terms of just sitting down and listening to the music.