How do you keep up with the latest music releases? More generally, how do you discover new music to listen to? (At least music that’s new to you.)
Are you beholden to whatever Spotify and commercial FM radio stations are paid to promote to you? Do you get recommendations from people whose taste matches your own? Or maybe whose taste doesn’t quite match your own? Do you let your streaming music provider’s algorithm decide?
Or do you just not listen to new music?
Here’s how I do it: every few weeks I switch between music discovery mode and music listening mode.
Screenshot from YouTube Music’s music discovery playlists. There are songs and albums listed under two headings: ‘New releases’ and ‘Mixed for you’.
Music discovery mode
In music discovery mode I listen to lots of songs I haven’t heard before, regardless of whether they’re old or new releases.
I do that by actively seeking out music from a range of sources, like:
YouTube Music’s various discovery, new-release, ‘mixed for you’, and auto-play playlists,
commercial FM radio stations in Melbourne (only when I’m in the car),
recommendations from podcasts (like the Women of Rock Oral History Project),
music from the movies and television shows I’m watching, and
full album listens based on whatever random song I’ve heard or music-related thought I’ve recently had.
That last one is possibly the most fun, by the way. I love listening to full albums and this lets me listen to both old and new albums, from both current and past artists.
Like recently ‘I’m Not Over’ by Carolina Liar popped into my head, so I went and listened to their whole ‘Coming To Terms’ album. And most recently I listened to Michelle Branch’s new album, ‘The Trouble with Fever’, which I really liked.
Anyway, if I like any of the songs I hear – or I at least want to give them a second listen – I’ll add those songs to my ‘current’ playlist.
Screenshot from the website of musician David Byrne, showing his radio station page – where he compiles and publishes playlists on different topics, mood, and type of music.
Music listening mode
After a period of discovery I’ll move into music listening mode. That’s basically me listening to my ‘current’ playlist, usually on shuffle :)
Eventually, when/if I get tired of a song, I’ll remove it from my playlist. And, if I really liked it, I’ll add it to my YouTube Music ‘library’.
So that’s what works for me.
What system do you use? Did you put much thought into it? How have you tweaked it over the years? And how is all that working for you? I’d love to know.