1. “FANS ALSO LIKE”…Go to your favorite artists, then scroll down to the part of the artist profile that says “fans also like.” This will show you artists making similar music.
2. DISCOVER WEEKLY…Discover weekly is curated by Spotify technologies that use algorithms to find music that resembles what you have saved and been listening to. The suggestions are wildly accurate. To get here, click search, then “made for you.”
3. RADIO…Click the three dots next to a song you really love and click “go to radio” (you can also do this with an artist if you really like a lot of the artist’s songs). When compared to pandora radio, in my experience, this has offered more precise similarities and less songs I already know.
4. PLAYLIST SUGGESTIONS…If you already have a playlist and are looking for more songs that fit that vibe, scroll to the bottom where Spotify will suggest songs. It never runs out of suggestions!
5. PERSONAL MIXES…Other Spotify pre-made personalized mixes found on your Spotify home: a) recommended radio- radio stations specifically made for your taste b) new releases for you- def explanatory c) made for [your name]: release radar & daily mixes- the daily mixes are nice because they are grouped by genre/vibe and each includes a mix of songs you already know and songs similar to those that you haven’t heard, d) similar to [artist you frequently listen to].
6. GENRE PLAYLISTS…If you know the specific genre you are looking for, search that in Spotify and click on playlists to access popular playlists made by Spotify or others. The playlists are endless, so browse around and for each playlist, see if you recognize a lot of songs. if so, listen to the playlist as the curator probably has a similar taste to you.
7. SUBGENRE PLAYLISTS…If you listen to more rogue music, or enjoy various kinds of electronic music, it can be hard to find the exact genre you like, especially because within electronic music, there are hundreds of subgenres. And if you’re anything like me, the sub genre is everything- I am always looking for a very specific sound.
Step 1) think of a few artists that embody the sound you’re looking for.
Step 2) google them to find blogs that describe their specific genre. If they are popular enough, Wikipedia will likely know the exact genre.
Step 3) search this genre on Spotify to find endless playlists. Again, try to skim through a bunch of playlists and choose to listen to the one with songs you already enjoy so you know their taste is trustworthy.
8. SPOTIFY TO SOUNDCLOUD… Choose a song you absolutely love – maybe one that not a lot of people know. Then search that song on SoundCloud, look to the right and click on “in playlists.” This will take you to playlists that include that song, so will have more songs of the same energy. You’ll see that playlists can be grouped and titled by things other than genre, such as experience, time, date, and moods. If you can, do this with a less popular song so you’re brought to playlists that probably include more non mainstream music, increasing the chances that you don’t already know everything on the playlist!
9. SOUNDCLOUD, DEEPER… if you end up finding a playlist you really like on soundcloud, click the profile of whoever made it, and listen to their liked tracks.
10. SHAZAM WITHOUT SHAZAM…You can instantly “Shazam” any song you hear by going on Snapchat and holding down the camera screen with one finger until the song name and artist pops up. Try it even if you think it is too quiet or there are too many other noises. It almost always works!