How do you discover new music in 2025?
Hey folks!
One of my life goals for 2025 was going back to single purpose devices and avoiding algorithm-based media consumption. No smartphones, no AIs, no Spotify.
I'm quite happy with my offline music library, even if it took a while to organize. I use MusicBee (it FINALLY runs perfectly via Wine, if you install some dependencies in your prefix) to listen, find artwork, find lyrics, create playlists and so on and I sync them to my Innioasis, a little iPod Classic clone that supports modern features like USB-C charging.
But here's the thing... how are people finding new music nowadays? I'd assume TikTok and automatic suggestions from your music streaming services, but are there alternatives?
TikTok would probably work for me if I didn't stop using social media, but I did. Apple Music's algorithm sucked tremendously when I used it in the past - it always recommended me Ed Sheeran, an artist I strongly dislike and not anywhere near adjacent to my taste in music (and tapping 'Not Interested' a million times never worked) and Spotify's worked well for a while, but then it started getting extremely repetitive and pushy, "Shuffle" became essentially "Your 10 most recently listened to songs, repeated often, and sometimes we sprinkle two suggestions you already didn't like but we think you should like actually"
I still find music the old school way, either through people I know recommending it or hearing it randomly in my travels.
I often do this too, sometimes I ask people for recommendations, hear a song on a show, or hear something in passing I like. Some of my coworkers have given me great recommendations especially.
Bandcamp
Second this. I don't really listen to a lot of mainstream stuff, so Bandcamp is really awesome for finding really great indie stuff.
Bandcamp is great for finding new stuff!
Sometimes I'll go to albums I like and check out other peoples collections to see what they've also bought. Some of my favorite tunes have been found this way.
https://www.music-map.com/
Never used the site myself as i'm still "plugged in" but i've kept this in my pocket for if i ever cut ties with music streaming. If you try it report back with your thoughts?
I'm not OP, I've tried this in the past and at least for my genres it didn't provide anything new or that I would like. I saying that though, I'm not placing the site at fault.
That's a shame, i was holding high hopes for it. Good to know i should adjust my expectations when the time comes.
Go see bands live, look up who is opening for bands you like and check out their music, talk to people who go to those shows and see what they like.
This one is HUGE. I've been to two shows now where I ended up liking the openers more than the main act.
BBC Radio 6 Music has a very eclectic playlist, and DJs who only vaguely stick to it, playing whatever they feel like most of the time. And the DJs are obsessive music-fans as well, hunting out new music to play
Another updoot for 6 Music, and for all the reasons you mentioned. It's on pretty much constantly at home.
I find more good quality music on community radio stations compared to the algorithmic recommendations from Apple Music. I wonder if this is because the community radio host is just playing music that they genuinely like as opposed to whoever pays the most to be on a discovery playlist.
Community/College Radio is such an under utilised source IMO. No pay to play artists. Often a focus on local artists. Gigs and events focussed on the community. It's the best. Do you have radio station recommendations?
www.wortfm.org
Thanks heaps.
I listen to Triple R: https://www.rrr.org.au/ There might be some good community stations in your area though
RateYourMusic, Gnoosic, and the old school way: on the radio. I have one curated music program that I listen to and discover new stuff.
The YT algorithm also sometimes recommends good stuff that has few hundred views
College radio. It can be a little more "work" because the format changes with the deejay. Their shows usually last a couple hours and come on once a week. You can't just tune in and expect to hear a certain genre. It's worth it though. If you have a station near you, they sometimes let anyone deejay even if they're not a student. I live in NE Ohio, the stations I've grown up with are WCSB 89.3, WRUW 91.1, WOBC 91.5, WJCU 88.7, WBWC 88.3. Also they are noncommercial so that's a bonus. You can listen through their websites and they sometimes archive shows. I've found them on the TuneIn app but the app plays commercials.
There's also a decent amount of college and independent stations (not IHeartRadio, etc owned) that broadcast online, so location isn't an issue.
I know OP is trying to go for single purpose devices, but RadioDroid on F-Droid is great for listening to internet radio and has a built in station list.
Well for example I saw this on mastodon recently: https://www.jwz.org/blog/2025/07/jwz-mixtape-253/
I just go on youtube music (don’t need an account) and search “songs like x”. That will get you a bunch of algo and user created playlists. Then I listen to them and take note of the ones I like.
Bandcamp has given me some good recs if you go to the bottom of the page of an album you like it will have some suggestions.
I like qobuz as my streaming service. It has terrible algorithms but well written human articles about genres, bands, labels with links to important albums.
I also like browsing the record store and picking up an album based on cover. I think you can 100% judge an album by it's cover.
Record labels... there are many but keeping up with a few that your favorite artists are already signed to is a great way to find similar music.
i mostly visit the RateYourMusic and AlbumOfTheYear charts and occasionally i'll check out the last.fm profiles of users i find interesting. basically, i treat music like a hobby but i do so because i desire that kind of connection. i love music so i devote a lot of time to it. i have pro accounts on all three places. luckily they are relatively affordable. i think last.fm is $3 a month lol. but yeah, i'd say if you are unfamiliar with RYM or AOTY then maybe check one out.
edit: in case you're not familiar, all of those mentioned are music cataloging websites that you can create customized profiles on. last.fm will import your listening history and you can track your habits in real time. it's good for finding your stats.
Surprised KEXP hasn't been mentioned here, always good to trawl through their live shows on youtube to find new bands
I switched to Tidal because of the issues you had. I've been loads happier with the artist radios, and their "New Arrivals" playlist tailors to listening habits really well. The daily mixes can be hit or miss with serving new stuff, but overall I've been happy with the results. On top of that their audio streaming quality is excellent, especially if you have good audio equipment or care about that sort of thing.
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-albums-of-all-time-1062063/
The best album of all time of the rolling stone is a great way to discover new music for me
Radio Garden has thousands of radio stations in one app, from around the world. I've found a lot of great music that way.
Also handy if you find DJ banter distracting. Just point at at station in an unfamiliar language and it all gets reduced to background rhubarbs.
Most of the time you don't even have to do that. I choose stations with no banter at all. Just music and the occasional mention of the station's name. It's spoilt me - I can't tolerate my local FM radio any more.
I've subbed Pitchfork's album reviews RSS. They tend to namedrop influences and contemporaries and that's what's keeping this 46 year old picking up 2025 albums (bit proud of the fact) :D
Go back in time for new music. No matter what you've listened to so far it is just the tip of the iceberg. There is a shitload ton more out there for you to find. I know what you meant but the old stuff you haven't heard is still new to you.
I'm also out of mainstream media. So far I've got to music through YouTube, or should I say newpipe. I find channels that curate music I'm into, I see what they got, if something interests me then I'll make a dedicated search for the artist.
I also straightforwardly asked a couple times here on Lemmy too, I was introduced to some really cool stuff I wouldn't have found otherwise.
But I appreciate you posting this, some people are recommending new, non mainstream media ways of finding new music, that's good
I listen to the music in the techno and EDM communities here on Lemmy. It seems like an ok approach.
I go through friends' playlists, and my daughters', too
I ask for people to make me mix CDs in lieu of gifts for the holidays
I listen to local independent radio — if you don't have your own, try ChIRP
I go to shows of bands I like and often find I like the other bands playing as well
When you say "new" music, do you mean actual new music, or just music that is new to you?
I have recently started listening to an artist that I missed when she was popular, Alice Deejay, it started with wanting to see the music video for the song "Castles in the sky" by Ian van Dahl, and going to Youtube, and the song "Better of alone" by Alice Deejay showed up.
So I tend to go to YT and look there.
In the past I have looked for top playlists in different categories and found music that way.
Then you have two very similar pages full of terabytes of legal free music that has some amazing stuff...
https://remix.kwed.org/ - Commodore 64 remixes
http://amigaremix.com/ - Amiga remixes
And don't forget the amazing SLAYradio, an internet radio station that plays C64 remixes and has download links to the current song playing (for the most part), I got soo much music through that place.
https://www.slayradio.org/home.php
https://listenbrainz.org's weekly exploration
https://crazypeople.online/c/eternalplaylist
Someone else mentioned it but this would be the route I would go as well. I've actually submitted a few things there.
Go to raves in virtual reality, follow music curators on youtube, follow artists on Soundcloud who repost new music
New is probably different for me, only meaning new to my library, but usually radio.
There is new music on radio, but I usually don't listen to those stations. But when I did, I got some recent music from there too. However for me where music peaks is the 80s and 90s.
Other way is simply stuff I hear others listening to near me, and then Shazam it. Which is why for example Brooklyn by Glockenbach reminds me of very specific road section and SOR C 9.5 (bus).
www.metal-archives.com, search by genre, list by release date. Disclaimer; must love metal.
Noobs, no one mentioned the most important website for audiophiles: albumoftheyear.org
It sounds basic, but I just keep an eye on new album reviews and give things a quick listen (on Spotify usually) if they have some good reviews.
For things I like I try to buy it on bandcamp so I can put it on my jellyfin server. If it's hard to find DRM free I 🏴☠️.
Downside is I miss out on non-album releases.
Go through a list of the biggest festivals worldwide and check out all artists in their line up each year. The best festivals tend to have a solid and varied list of artists with current releases worth checking out. If you're into a particular genre, there are reputable festivals for specific genres to check out.
But don't forget that a lot of music is not new but new to you. I listen to a lot of stuff that's new to me, but very little of it has been released more recently than the early eighties :-)
Go to a record store. Talk to someone who loves to talk about music. Buy something. Listen to it. Go back next week.
This works of you are into electronic music. There's this app shotgun.live that manage and sell tickets to clubs and parties, mainly electronic, and when you check a party they link to the DJs soundcloud. So I go to the app, choose a city and see the parties that are being promoted and the DJs that are going to play and listen to their sets.
I pick a genre I am feeling and go try different artists from that genre. I also get music recommendations from my friends like god intended
albumoftheyear (a newer site like rateyourmusic) and last.fm and youtube
I like the infinite playlist on Lemmy. Lots of good stuff there!
Last good new (to me) music I found was by going to music festivals and by YouTube randomly recommending something to me I had never heard of before.
Highly recommend SomaFM
Wikipedia has an unusually high hit rate for me. I start reading about a band, a genre, or something music-related, then before I know it, the wiki rabbit hole of blue links has introduced me to 50 other bands. Some of my favourite bands were found this way. If you're averse to using anything web-based at all, maybe you could get your hands on a music encyclopaedia from the library or something. If you're into a specific genre, you can probably narrow down the scope with a book just about that genre.
I have never, not once in my entire life, been recommended an artist by an algorithm that I ended up liking. Not on Spotify, not on Last.fm, not on Bandcamp, it just doesn't happen for me 🤷
Mostly just been going by what y'all post in the music communities like Eternal Playlist and Music. The last 30 or so favorited songs in my favorite list were directly from posts here on Lemmy.
The other source is just using the song ID thing on my phone when I hear something I like while in a store or watching a video/TV show/movie.
Originally, Spotify was really good at suggesting new stuff relevant to my tastes; but that ship sailed like 3 years ago.
I search by genres or artists. This means, that I usually hop on YouTube, and start looking if any of the artists I like released new stuff and if I come across a new one I look what stuff they have that I like.
Radio is good, but don't listen to the crappy top 40 local station. Find a station that has actual shows - ones where the DJs themselves pick the music - and where the DJs actually have an interest in music rather than trying to be an acoustic TikToker. Campus radio is good (I listen to KZSU and FuseFM) and PSB alt radio (BBC Radio 6 and ABC Triple-J) since, again, they have genre-savvy DJs that actually pick the music.
I subscribe to radio stations through my podcast app, Podcast Addict, though I expect others have the functionality too. An Indy Alt station out of New York, an EDM station out of Sydney, etc. new music curated by real, human DJs.
During long drives I often put on Discover Weekly from Spotify. Sometimes there's something interesting in there that I end up checking out more in depth.
That's how I came across Destiny Potato (now known as Sordid Pink), and by extension David Maxim Micic. Fucking amazing.
Spotify Discover Weekly
I do use the algorithmic recommendations but yeah it can get a little recursive without new input.
Just yesterday I found Enter Scepter because NPR was playing their runners up for the Tiny Desk Contest. I look at Brooklyn Vegan for stuff I've never heard of and listen to the Dorm Room radio show on WMNF, new stuff comes up on that show a lot. WMNF radio in general, I've found plenty of artists listening to community radio. Pitchfork sometimes will post something I check out and like, and the Rolling Stone half year and best of year list also sometimes have artists I check out and like.
I dont, there's no point. I make my own
I just annually pick a eurovision artist and listen their old stuff.
You don’t. You listen to what the algorithm says is best for you.