We’ve all experienced music burnout. Your favorite artist drops a new album and you listen on repeat until you get tired of it, only for you to move on to a different artist and fall back into the cycle once again. If you’re in the midst of a music block, or if you’re just looking to enhance your playlists, these are the best ways to find music recommendations. As someone who listens to anything from the Rolling Stones to Charli XCX and spends an embarrassing amount of time keeping up with my Spotify stats, I’ve come across some foolproof ways to find new music that you will actually like.
LOOK AT YOUR STREAMING RECOMMENDATIONS
The large libraries of music available to users on Spotify and Apple Music can be daunting, but taking advantage of curated playlists is the easiest and most accessible way to find new music. Spotify recently unveiled a new custom playlist for all users called “daylist,” which updates multiple times a day based on your individual listening habits. Like their other personalized playlists, it combines familiar songs with new ones that fit the same vibe. It also gives you fun hyper-specific titles, some personal favorites of mine being “sad pumpkin spice wednesday morning” and “surf rock garage saturday afternoon.” Apple Music also offers a bunch of different mixes that can introduce you to new music by the genre or your liked artists.
Listen to local radio stations
I know as well as anyone how difficult it can be to part with your car’s AUX cord, but if you can find the right radio station, it’s SO worth it. KCOU is Mizzou’s student-run radio station with various shows available for you to listen to. Playlists crafted by an algorithm can introduce you to some great tracks, but there’s something special about getting recommendations from actual people who really love the music that they’re putting you onto. Just tune your radio to 88.1 FM and thank me later.
Judge an album by its cover
If you are a collector of physical music media like vinyl, cassettes, and CDs, take a trip to your local record store and browse the shelves for something that catches your eye. This is my favorite way of finding music that is completely unlike anything I would’ve come across on my own. Hitt Records and B Side Records are located less than a mile from the Mizzou campus and have great selections to get lost in.
“I picked out some random records from the sale bin at Hitt to use as decor because the cover art was cool, but I ended up listening to them and actually really liked them,” Mizzou student Maureen Dolan says. “I didn’t have any idea what they would sound like. I was completely surprised.”
Use external apps
Websites like Spotalike and Dubolt allow you to input your favorite artists or tracks and get brand-new playlists that you can import directly into your Spotify account. My most used one is Airbuds, which is an app that allows you to share your listening activity with your friends and react to what they’re listening to. It’s a super fun way to not only discover songs but also to connect with the people around you through music.
Even if you’re not constantly on the hunt for a new favorite song, it’s always fun to discover a new artist or genre and switch up your old listening habits. So take a break from listening to “GUTS” for the fourth consecutive time and find something fresh — I believe in you.