Discovering New Bands: Favorite Methods?
By wesderby
@wesderby (178)
United States
January 23, 2007 4:28pm CST
What are some of the ways you discover new music? Do you feel traditional AM/FM radio (particularly here in the US) is doing enough to break new bands/new songs?
For me, I find it depends on the genre I'm looking for.
for rock and pop, I find the Web, such as online music magazines and discussion forums, to be one of the best ways...Also, satellite radio is a great tool. They seem to be willing to take chances are newer artists that I sometimes don't hear until months later on FM, or I never hear at all on FM...Also, satellite seems to be willing to play the new releases from "heritage" artists for their formats...An example would be some of the new albums being released by bands like Tesla, Europe, Bob Seeger, or other classic rockers...You can turn on your favorite radio station and hear the same old tunes, but the only way to find the new ones seems to be through the Web or on satellite radio.
For country, it seems that again, satellite radio is a great tool...But so is CMT. I hear plenty of great country music on CMT that NEVER gets played on my local country station, particularly by classic/heritage artists.
I remember when I was a kid, the radio was the greatest place to find out about new music...Now, it seems to be the last place to find the new stuff.
What are your thoughts?
1 person likes this
5 responses
@MrNiceGuy (4141)
• United States
24 Jan 07
Right now I like to use a website. Its called www.musicplasma.com You enter a band you like and it offers you a web of music that are similar for different reasons. I used it to find obscure music that is really good but doesn't get the right exposure. Its also really nice to be able to find music similar to your tastes.
1 person likes this
@lifeis2good (1183)
• United States
23 Jan 07
I definitely have recently come upon the International Music Feed - it's a channel that I found while surfing my satellite channels on the TV. And wow it's been great - to see how other countries have different styles of music - as well as they also show bands from the US too. They also have a really cool site you can visit at: http://imf.com
I also subscribe to Sirius Satellite and it's another great way to find new music - especially if I am online and listening to it then I always keep a piece of paper and a pen handy in case I hear something new that really strikes me well - I immediately write down the artist and the name of the song.
I tend to stray away from the local FM radio because they always seem to be playing the same songs!!!
@wesderby (178)
• United States
23 Jan 07
Yeah...That's a lot of why I went with XM; FM here was awful (still is, actually), and XM has one of my favorite hard rock/metal DJs/icons, Eddie Trunk, hosting a show every week.
One thing I like on my XM receivers is the ability to have it save the song and artist information for tne artists/titles on one receiver and twenty on the other...Great for those times when I don't have something to Braille the info down with or my wife or someone nearby to read me the info. XM (and I'm guessing Sirius, as well) also has channels playing genres and subgenres that you just don't find on the terrestrial dial anymore...Blues, Reggae, uncensored comedy, 80's metal/hard rock, "Alternative" country/Americana, bluegrass...You might get an FM specialty show here and there, but no fulltime formats devoted to these genres.
@poetsociety (34)
• Canada
4 Feb 07
I discover bands from TV shows, Movies.. genres. I usually find one band I like and try to broaden my search on the type of music they play. Its fun!
1 person likes this
@girlontheside (152)
• Australia
14 Feb 07
The internet is the main tool I use to discover new bands. I visit sites like Absolutepunk (http://absolutepunk.net) and check out bands which have great reviews or get a lot of hype from members.
Purevolume was also a site I used all the time couple of years ago to discover some of the bands I constantly listen to nowadays. Bands (those who have big record contracts to those who are just starting out) have their own pages where you can listen to their sonngs, read about the band, etc. I guess it's like MySpace too in a way, although I personally prefer Purevolume because sometimes I get overwhelmed with all of the stuff found on MySpace sites. Although I think MySpace counterparts get more updated. But anyway, both sites have this if-you-like-this-band, you'll-like-so-and-so feature too, so sometimes I explore around that route as well because it is pretty accurate.
