Die-hard music fans can’t go a week without listening to new albums and singles, and luckily there’s no shortage in new bands and artists that produce worthy music. However, it’s physically impossible to keep track of all new releases, even if you spend all your free time monitoring what’s new in the music world. We reviewed and tested several music search programs and resources that can help you filter all the trash and give you the products that are valuable in a global music marketplace and can be of particular interest for you personally.
1. LastFm
Lastfm has been around for years and has already helped millions of people find thousands of outstanding artists. The principle is very simple and effective: you type in the name of a band you like and check other bands that have a similar style. Besides, you can listen to their music right on the site, join the community, make playlists of your own, read artists’ bio, etc.
2. Music Map
Music-Map is an extremely simple to use music search service. It doesn’t require registration so you can start using it right away. Just type in the name of an artist that you like into the search tab of the website and hit ‘Enter’. Straight away you will see plenty of names of artists whose styles are similar to the one that you inserted. You can click on any of those names and Music-Map will continue on finding relevant artists for you. If an artist you are looking for is not present, you can always add a new submission to improve the quality of this music search service. However, this service can only search for the names of artists with similar styles and this is its only function.
3. SoundHound & Shazam
Sometimes good music comes to you when least expected, e.g. in a mall, gas station or restaurant. Shazam and SoundHound are typically used to identify songs that you don’t know but already love. Basically, these apps are quite similar (all you need to do is open the app and let it identify the song that is playing), but Shazam appears to have a faster reaction. However, it makes sense to install both because in some cases SoundHound identifies songs that Shazam fails to recognize, and vice versa.
4. SoundCloud
Another way to discover music is through friends’ suggestions. If you have friends who share your preferences in music, it would be a good idea to steal some tracks from their playlists without wasting time on a manual search. SoundCloud gives users the ability to explore trending music and audio feeds, find songs by genres, and much more.
5. Songbot: Radio Search Engine
Although some people believe that the radio is dead, we are pretty sure that it’s still a great source of new music. If you don’t like the idea of listening to different stations all the time waiting until they play a good song, try Songbot to switch between the stations and pick the best tracks only. Thus, you can type in a song title and listen to it on the station that is currently playing it. Also, you can check the most played songs in the last 48 hours, see the recommendations, and of course, listen to the radio.
6. Band of the Day
In case you find extensive music searching too overwhelming, try Band of the Day. The title says it all: they showcase one new band every day and allow you to check hundreds of previously posted bands. If you can’t afford spending hours on picking bands from a massive flow, you can at least handle one per day.
7. Pandora
This is a streaming radio that plays music you love. How does it know what songs you enjoy listening to? You just specify your faves, and the radio includes them and related artists into the playlists. You can use “Like” and “Dislike” buttons to help the radio adjust your playlists, too.
Even the best bands and most inspiring songs may start making you sick if you don’t regularly diversify your playlist. Modern technology makes a great effort to help you find new artists and make your music flow never run dry. We’ve listed 7 music search services and resources that will allow you to filter the songs and bands and pick ones that may turn into your lifetime commitment.
Another useful app can be Choosic, a music discovery app that recommends new and trending tracks depending on your music taste. It also looks like Tinder which make it really fast to swipe through songs and create a playlist of everything you like.
Alessia, thank you for this tip you gave us, we’ll take a look at this app.
Grooveshark is my favorite.
I like that you mentioned how hard it can be to keep track of all new releases out there. I have a lot of favorite artists and want to stay on top of when they come out with new music. My friend has mentioned that the internet is a great place for this.