Tips On Discovering New Music

Being a music fan nowadays is hard. And that's because we live in a time of constant digital media overload. Before the age of the internet we relied on everything from friends to the radio to MTV to discover new music. And usually, the only artists who would ever gain widespread popularity did so because they were signed with a record label.

Today when we get sick of our current playlist, this access to millions and millions of songs can be a little overwhelming. But in this situation, the good definitely outweighs the bad. There may be countless new artists posting music everyday, but along with that comes countless ways to discover them.  Let me introduce you to some of my favorites.

First of all, if you haven't discovered the magic of Spotify yet, I suggest you change that (even if it's just the free version). If you want access to new music, this is my number one way to find it. Here are some tips for getting the most out of Spotify:

1. Follow your friends (only the ones who have good taste, of course).
Spotify allows users to create playlists and star favorite songs. If you follow someone, you can see what they've been listening to and get access to their playlists. Seems like we take advice from our online friends about everything else these days, why not music?!

2. Use the Discover feature!
Spotify knows what you've been listening to, and it will offer you some advice on what you might want to like to listen to next. Spotify is great about adding all kinds of artists, both seasoned and brand new, so there's never a shortage of suggestions.

3. For a more passive approach, use the radio.
For a feature similar to Pandora, but even more personalized, choose a radio station based on an artist or song or playlist and Spotify will play some new music for you.

Being an interactive media graduate student, I can most certainly appreciate a cool website. I've recently discovered Hitlantis and it's a fabulous way to get exposed to music you haven't heard before. Besides the eccentric design, here's why I love this site...

1. You can filter by the artist's genre and country.
The larger circles represents artists that are getting a lot of attention - so you may want to check those out first!

2. Once you click a bubble of interest, it'll zoom in and you'll be given access to listen to a selection of their music.
Sometimes you may even be taken to a music video.

These are just two examples of the awesome ways to discover new music on the web today. Check back soon for more suggestions!