If you’re anything like me, you probably get tired of listening to the same music and artists again and again. Sometimes, I get so bored of my playlist that I won’t listen to anything; which isn’t the ideal choice since I’m almost always listening to music — I hit 75k minutes on my spotify wrapped this year and I’m aiming for 80k minutes next year. Here are some of my favorite ways to discover new music and work toward my goal of 80,000 minutes of music listened to.
- New Playlists
I’ve talked to many people about how they organize their music, and the most common answer I hear is based on vibes. Don’t get me wrong, having playlists for specific vibes is so important — I have playlists for a rainy day, growing older, and a beautiful sunny day. However, I find that this method limits how you are able to consume new music. In the past year and a half, I’ve created a new playlist every 1-3 months, depending on how long it takes me to get bored.
The way I create a new playlist is as follows:
- Add my favorite songs from the most recent playlist: I add 10-15 songs I enjoy in terms of lyrics or beats to the new playlist from the old playlist — these are the songs I’m not quite bored of yet, and it serves as a base.
- Go through the Spotify enhance & Spotify’s recommended songs feature: Spotify’s AI is incredibly good at finding songs that fit the same genre/vibe as songs you have added to your new playlist. Through the enhance feature, the more songs you add, the more songs are recommended to you. Another great place to find new jams is to listen to your Discover Weekly and other playlists created by Spotify specifically for you. These playlists are all tailored for your taste based on what you have previously listened to. My biggest tip with these features is to listen to the middle of the song for no more than 30 seconds — if you enjoy the beat, add it to your playlist! You can always remove it later if you realize it’s not your vibe, but in my experience, it’s hard to find new music if you’re not open to trying something new.
- Don’t stop adding new music: whether you find new music through your friends, tiktok, a movie, etc, always be adding songs to your playlist.
2. Concerts
Another great way I find new music is through concerts. When you go to a concert for your favorite band or artist, there is usually an opener who is less known. Many people only go to concerts to listen to their favorite artist, there is nothing wrong with that, but if you want to discover new music, keep an open mind! If you like the opener enough, after the concert, you can go through their discography and possibly find a new favorite artist.
3. Tiktok
In recent years, Tiktok has become an amazing place to discover new music, especially lesser known/upcoming artists. For many new and smaller artists, Tiktok is a powerhouse when it comes to being discovered. I’ve found so many small artists for my niche genre of soundcloud rap who I now listen to almost daily. Plus, it helps you discover new music as well as support upcoming artists — you might even be able to call yourself a “day one” one day when they get famous and concert tickets all of a sudden become hundreds of dollars instead of $30.
There are a lot of other ways to discover new music, such as listening to other people’s playlists, taking songs that your friends post on their social media, or shazaming the soundtrack of the movie you just watched or the club you were just at. The biggest thing to keep in mind when finding new music is to keep an open mind — you might find something you never thought you’d listen to or discover a new band before it goes viral. The possibilities are endless when it comes to finding new music.