Discovering new music nowadays can be tricky. Although grateful for the huge amount of options, I’m also overwhelmed by the infinite possibilities and at times, I can end up lost in too many tools that won’t really give me the best – based on my personal music taste – new music out there.
There are some options that have been giving me excellent new music tips, making it easier to discover new artists or songs customized to my taste. They are:
Last.fm
Last.fm Recommends
I’ve been using Last.fm since early 2007 and have been feeding them with over 100 000 scrobbles, making it possible for them to collect a reasonable amount of data which they use to recommend me artists similar to the ones I’ve been listening to. Pretty accurate, most of the time!
Shuffler.fm
Shuffler.fm
Shuffler.fm can be a good random discovery tool, grabbing the songs in music blogs all over the world and separating them into different categories, my choice usually being genres (radios) where I will shuffle through the latest indie songs. Because Spotify is my music player of choice, sometimes the songs I might discover on Shuffler.fm are not available on Spotify, but still a good tool.
Filtr.com
Filtr
Filtr is a great Spotify app where you can simply drag a song, artist or even a Spotify user and a playlist based on those tips will be generated. I love this one because I can, for example, choose the people I believe to have a great taste in music and drop them all in there and Filtr will generate a playlist based on a mix of their taste.
Tunaspot
Tunaspot
Tunaspot fits my curiosity: it allows me, also inside of Spotify, to check what people are listening to around the world, in very specific places i.e at the gym, at the beach, etc. Although a little bias, (I was involved with the very first 9 months of this startup here in Sweden) there hasn’t been a better tool for me to get new subscribers on my playlist: I get easily 5-10 new subscribers in different playlists I have dropped around the world.
#MusicMonday playlist by @Monafims:
I started #thursplay inspired by #MusicMonday, which proposes an exchange of music tips regardless of which platform or format Twitter users choose to share their music. I’ve been tipped by Last.fm about Mona’s music taste – which was very similar to mine – and ever since, every Monday, I wait for her @MonaFims #MusicMonday (updated every Monday) ♫ playlist, bringing 20 hand picked new songs. It’s a great way to find new artists and it’s usually a feel-good mood.
This is it for me. Have I been missing out on any other awesome ways to discover music – based on my taste? If you have tips, feel free to let me know!
I personally share all my music findings, every Thursday on #thursplay, with a playlist called:
Hope you enjoy the tips!
by Maisa.
THURSPLAY ♫ 
Hi,
I would also like to mention Mixit Radio (http://radio.mxt.se) which is about maintaining the essence of DJ:ing which we believe is to inspire with music. Our Mixit Radio DJs provide you with their music selections on their Mixit Radio channels. A selection that is hand-made and not automated to help you find music. Enjoy!
Maybe you want to join us?
/Jonas
Interesting, Jonas. I think I’ve checked Mixit Radio before – could have been a year ago, or so? – and you guys are doing a great job! Yes, I should take the time to get This Week, These Beats on the site, as it’s already a playlist where I update the content weekly. Thanks for the tip and for reading =]
Nice article, Maisa. Have you checked out Soundrop in Spotify? Just started using it and pretty impressed so far. You can set up a curated playlist and listeners can vote up tracks & leave feedback or you can even let them add tracks to the list.
Hi Brian! Yes, I’ve checked Soundrop a few times before, but must say that didn’t use the way you just suggested. It could be a great way to test popularity of songs on an upcoming playlist, for instance. Thanks for the tips!