How to find music?

In this time, listening to Capital FM will not find you anything new or original. Even some of their fans complain that they're playing the same thing over and over again. So unless you know of a good indie station or something (and if you do, PLEASE give me a yell!), that rules out the radio.

YouTube? It's hard to go anywhere on YouTube in this 'Day And Age' (like my Killers album quote?) without the frankly scary face of Niki Minaj jumping out in the sidebar... but there is what many people (although yes, I'm sorry to admit mainly hipsters) call the 'good side of YouTube'. I call it this because it's where you can go and look at the sidebar, and there will be songs you have never heard of. You will want to click on every song and EXPLORE! (Note: some hipsters call it the 'good side of YouTube' because it hasn't got many views; some people count the quality of music by the popularity, which is utter rubbish in my opinion. Yes, it's nice to know a band nobody else does, but there are some amazing well-known bands!) However it's quite hard to get there (it took me a good half an hour of clicking the first time) but it's a great journey through music, and well worth it when you get there. I would reccomend bookmarking a link from there so you can zip straight to the obscure and the brilliant. So YouTube: yes.

I favour using streaming sites, especially Grooveshark. Yes, I know about Spotify, and yes, I reccomend using it as you can discover lots of new artists there, but I enjoy Grooveshark more. I love lining up the songs on the bottom to play in Grooveshark, so it's really clear to see what the radio feature will throw at you. Of course, both Spotify and Grooveshark have radio features. Like a real radio station, you never know what tracks they will line up next — but unlike real radio stations, you can skip tracks as many times as you wish if they aren’t to your fancy (and there aren’t any annoying DJs interrupting the flow). On Grooveshark, you can either cleat your waiting list and select a channel, or simply switch the radio tab on, and when you get to the end of your chosen songs, it will play songs similar to your taste, but just different enough so you can explore. I found some great artists that way. 

Finally, I use last.fm to check out any new artists I find. As well as a bio from Wikipedia, they have the top listens, photos, and a similar artists feature. You can type in your favourite artist and see what comes out - you may just find something amazing! 

Enjoy exploring ---HT---