Top 5 Sites for (legally) Discovering New Music

Music review blogs and websites are a dime a dozen. Some offer a sample of what they are touting in the form of a video or mp3 (download or streaming), but the offering is quite often only a hit single or lead track. How do you get to the core of that unsigned artist's repertoire before you commit your hard earned cash? Well, here are five websites that I use on a near-daily basis to discover and listen to new music. Comments and Suggestions are welcome.

Bandcamp - all bands should have a Bandcamp page. In theory, Bandcamp helps artists sell their music and merch directly to their fans, and in turn helps fans discover new music and directly support those who make it. In actuality, Bandcamp is a treasure trove of free and legal new music. It is a clean, no frills format and easy to use. A Bandcamp page obviously can't be a successful bands sole homepage, as it doesn't list comments and is overall pretty limited, but it is a great way to hear, download and buy songs. It succeeds where MySpace has failed, in that it focuses on the music and the easy distribution of content rather than packing a page with needless and confusing bells and whistles.

Pandora & Slacker Radio - before a few weeks ago, music-lovers worldwide had no idea what IPO stood for. Thanks to Pandora's move public, everyone seems to have an opinion on volatility and valuation. I'm impressed by the selection and inclusion of some deeper cuts by both of these "radio stations," but everything always seems to come around to Death Cab For Cutie, despite my constant efforts to "thumbs down" their music on my alt. country stations. The truth is, even a well-policed station can continuously come around to the same unwanted selections. That aside, they are a good way to hear older music mixed in with contemporaries or explore genres like 70s soul, or instrumental funk, if you are so inclined. I still prefer Pandora over Slacker, but I as the big players in online music muscle their way into the cloud, it will be interesting to see if people stay loyal to the radio format rather than on-demand streaming.

Grooveshark - After Apple purchased and then abruptly killed lala.com, the on demand streaming platform developed by now Color.com founder Bill Nguyen, there was serious void in instant, free, legal musical gratification services. On demand streaming was no longer as streamlined (meaning, there was often subscription costs involved). Grooveshark provides a pretty massive database of streamable music, which includes some really new and relatively obscure selections, including live and remixed versions  of tracks. Grooveshark allows you to plug in a name, song or album and immediately start your musical exploration and add to an ongoing playlist. Will Grooveshark be purchased, killed or rendered useless by the major tech and label players, it is likely. Enjoy it while it lasts.

SoundCloud - Another hefty thumbs up for ease of use and interesting selection. SoundCloud is a distribution platform which allows musicians to collaborate, promote and distribute their music. I like that people can just throw stuff up there creating a very random, but far reaching selection. SoundCloud can sometimes be the first place you can hear a song, especially when there isn't an accompanying video, because artists can record straight to SoundCloud and embed the player just about anywhere. You are not gonna consistently find the Billboard selections of an online music store, but a few minutes on SoundCloud will expose you to all kinds of new, and potentially amazing content.


Youtube & Vevo - If this is the first time you are hearing of the YouTube, this may be the first time you have ever perused the internet. Welcome. There may, however, be some features that you have not thought to explore. Obviously, the ability to see and hear new bands is the primary benefit of Google's massive video network. The Suggestions or Playlist feature automatically generates a list of the same or similar bands that allows you to jump from video to video. Also, many record labels have their own YouTube pages, so if you follow the links associated with a favorite song or video, you can often find equally appealing videos from the same label. Vevo is the glossy, label backed YouTube, where everything trendy can be found. The ads can get super annoying, but it is a small price to pay compared to trying to find something you like by watching MTV or VH1. I also highly suggest you give the YouTube Mixer (http://v3ga.net/YouTubeMixer/) a go... listening to music videos will never be the same.


Happy hunting.

stereomood

Graham's review: I've been listening to stereomood for the past four weeks. Like Pandora, it streams music, but instead of starting with a song or artist I like, it creates a playlist based on the mood I select. The moods can be pretty specific, including choices like Lost in Thought, Foreplay, Need of Love, and Well-Read.

A radio station based on mood is perfect for me. I often look through my iTunes trying to find a song that will capture or transform my current mood. I mainly listen to Digital, or one of the stations that sound like it will keep me awake, usually Energetic or Let's Party. I turn on Digital while I'm working either at home or in the office, and just don't feel like listening to my regulars: Air, Thievery Corp, Zero 7, or classical. I listen to the other two stations when I feel super tired at work and I'm working on a task that doesn't require too much focus. I've heard a lot of good songs on Energetic and Lets Party, but the only one that comes to mind is "Wake Up" by Arcade Fire because it hit the spot the other day as I chugged away in Excel. Of course there are some missteps. Last week I listened to three horrible songs in a row on Energetic, which prompted me to return to my iTunes. Overall, it does a decent job of matching the songs to the mood, although it's probably hard to match perfectly for everyone.

Be careful, the volume starts out super loud and the meter is a little hard to find. Also, every time you click on a mood, it seems to start you out at the same song.