Periodically, I develop musical crushes on a band or artist, and will only listen to their music. Over time though, the love wanes, but I still find myself playing the same songs over and over. I could say I listen to the same songs because I love them, but realistically it’s because I haven’t found anything better. I’m always craving new music and have been exploring how to find the music I want to listen to, without having to wade through tons of music clutter on the Internet. Here are five great tools/sites for finding music that I’ve been using on the quest for my next musical crush.
1. SHAZAM This music I.D. app, available for the iPod and Android-powered phones, is probably the most active program on my phone besides email. When I’m on-the-go, new music usually catches me off guard and immediately I begin the doomed process of trying to memorize the lyrics so I can Google them later. Thank goodness for Shazam.
2. GENRE SPECIFIC BLOGS The best, and most entertaining blogs are the ones with a clear focus. They are expert in the topic and you can always count on them to bring to light the deep, buried talent of some random unknown artist that you would have never discovered if it wasn’t for them. Best way to find these blogs? Googling artists you love in a particular genre, and exploring the blogosphere.
3. YouTube YouTube is the poor man’s iTunes. As long as you have the Internet, you have access to a digital collection of songs that trumps any other services out there. There are a lot of independent artists who have amazing talent and are sharing their stuff with people everyday through YouTube. Instead of stumbling through YouTube videos about cats and flash mobs, try stumbling around for music….it’s a more productive form of procrastination than the latter, in any case.
4. Your Daily Crack As the blog says in their “about us”, this blog is about the love of music. It gives you so many sounds and styles, but the commonality is that it never fails to be addictive. It’s focus is the under-appreciated that the world-at-large is mostly oblivious. Definitely worth a look.
5. Musicovery is a webradio site that lets you “play your mood” by selecting from four different mood presets, which are also customizable. Often, I find I am looking for different types of music when I’m in different moods. Musicovery captures this idea and translates it into a great service for listeners who don’t know who they want to listen for exactly, but know how they want to feel.