Earworms are a thing. Ok, they are not worms, just a word to describe a really catchy tune or song that sticks in your head, long after you heard it. Maybe you heard it play at a restaurant, or on some TV show but now you can’t have enough of it. You wake up in the morning and it’s ringing in your head and you want to listen to it again. We all go through this. We listen to this song over, and over again till we’re sick. After that phase, comes a lull. Now, we return to listening to our favourite songs, but we’re stuck with them, without ever checking out anything new. There are millions of songs to listen to, across genres, across continents, across artists and so many more we might like but we’re missing out! We’re not listening to enough, new, fresh music!
When we are listening to music, it’s when we’re doing something. Sometimes, we’re cycling, at times reading, sometimes working or just driving back from work. Each of these activities deserves a specific type of music – sometimes it’s meaningful, sometimes instrumental so it’s not distracting, sometimes slower and faster.
Most people we know listen to music in one of two ways. The first group of people listen to whatever plays on the radio. It could be a YouTube video, an FM radio station or one of those online new music streaming services. They do not care about what’s playing, as long there is something playing. The other group of listeners copy their favourite music to their phones, or they have one playlist of say, 20 to 30 songs that they keep listening to endlessly day after day. Assuming that a track is three to four minutes long, they’ve heard their entire music collection by the end of the day. This is boring!
It’s important to explore new music. It adds a certain freshness and excitement to your day. You can look forward to something new every day. This process of discovering new music is best done by adding new tracks to your music player and listening to them at least once. Some tracks just need a few more listens to get into your system. Either you’ll love it, or you’ll know it isn’t for you. Then, you move on to the next track. Before you do that, arises the biggest question many of us must ask – how do you discover new music?
Last.fm figures among the top, fun ways to find new music. Even if you are not a subscriber (which we urge you to be), it lets you browse genres, artists, their most played songs today, last week, months, even years. This way, you can know if you’re missing out on anything massively popular. If you subscribe and use a Scrobbler (a tool that tracks the music you listen), it even recommends you music that’s like that artist or song you love. We’ve tried it and last.fm can be really good at this. The web site is vast, and there are plenty of third-party apps you can use on any platform – Windows, Linux, OS X, Android or iOS. It works alongside any music player app or software. One of the other ways of discovering music on last.fm is by following other users who listen to the same artists, albums or songs as you. One recommended way is by looking at other listeners who also listen to your favourite song, then their recommendations, their likes and listening history. You can literally spend hours and you’ll be surprised by what you find.
If you haven’t upgraded from an offline music player to an online streaming service, there is more than one reason to. A lot of the music exploration happens on these music streaming services. Once you get listening to your favourite tracks, the service recommends other music you might be interested in. Sometimes, it’s the form of playlists, sometimes just a few songs. All of these are compiled by studying your habits and those of other listeners, who listen to your kind of music.
The ways of finding music aren’t just recommendations. Sometimes, you must step into playlists that seem like unlikely places to find new music. Take for example, the authored playlists for moods and activities. Most streaming services have playlists for focus, workouts, travel, relaxation among others. At the right time, tuning in these playlists and radios can find you some gems you would otherwise miss.
One of the places where a lot of chatter on random subjects takes place is on discussion boards. Many of them talk about a specific theme, but there is often a sub-section dedicated entirely to off-topic discussions. One of those topics is music, and most popular discussion boards have a thread dedicated to music recommendations. Unlike other recommendations, these come from actual people who like you have been listening and discovering music. People post their daily ear-worms regularly. Who knows? Their ear-worm today might be your ear-worm tomorrow!
Another similar way is browsing by reading music review sites, some of which are community sourced. These are usually driven by individuals who are passionate about music themselves. They write detailed reviews of the latest album releases and there are new discoveries to be made here. One of the most popular sites is Sputnik Music, and some others are AllMusic, RateYourMusic and BestEverAlbums.
Every once in a while though, we discover new music in some ad on TV, sometimes at a restaurant, on a radio station or some event we’re at. In the past, we’ve tried remembering the lyrics and then finding them on Google. Things have progressed so much since those days. Apps like Shazam and Google Assistant can listen to a tune with the press of a button and tell you exactly what song that is. Shazam can even keep track of all the music you’ve identified. There are even modes where Shazam detects all background music. This is great when you’re at a party or a pub that plays some great music. At the end of the day, you have an entire playlist of all the music that was played through the evening.
Finding tracks is only part of the fun. Knowing whether you’re digging a new track is another thing. One of the ways you can figure this is by adding the newly discovered music to a new playlist. Call it something simple but obvious, like – “New Music” or “New Discoveries”. Listen through that playlist so you’ve heard the songs in it at least a couple of times. You’ll know when certain songs stand out. Now add them to your primary playlist. Over time, you can clear the discoveries playlist and add new tracks to it. The cycle continues, and you’re realize you’re no longer listening to stale, repetitive tracks. Widen your scope of listening!
