Be friends with Lester Bangs/Vinyl Films

Some people can dig up great music like magic, or have friends inside the industry who keep them updated. Some people are contented with their weekly Spotify Discover playlist. But if you need more ways to find music, here are 50 ideas, taken from Twitter users, my colleagues at Lifehacker’s publisher Gizmodo Media Group, and some of my own habits. Some are obvious, some bizarre, some embarrassing, but they’ve all helped people find their new favorite song, or even their favorite band.



“Best Of” Lists

If you’re getting into a new era or genre, or if you just want to “be more of a music person,” you might enjoy a guided tour.

Music Review Sites

If you find a site whose taste matches yours, great! If not, you can still use these to just see what’s out this week.

Metacritic Music averages critical reviews, so it’s a good starting point, and shows you what’s controversial or universally acclaimed. From there you’ll find review sites like these:

“I check Pitchfork every morning to see what just came out; they publish 4-5 album reviews a day. I don’t really read it or care what they say too much. Pitchfork’s ratings are arbitrary!”—Joel Kahn, senior video producer at Lifehacker

Consequence of Sound uses a letter-grade system for reviews, and streams new tracks as they come out (sometimes before they hit Spotify or iTunes).

Needledrop keeps a running “loved list” of its favorite new songs. It’s a tight selection; this year’s list only has 13 tracks so far. (via Péter Szász, managing director at GMG Hungary)

The Rest of the Internet

The internet wants, very badly, for you to hear new music.

Soundtracks

Music rating sites have to churn through everything as it comes in; soundtracks are curated samplers of one particular sound.

I first heard a lot of my favorite songs through my favorite TV shows. Some shows (like GIRLS, Atlanta, The Magicians, Divorce, and Mad Men) are just constantly playing bangers. “[Soundtracks] remind me of the poignant scenes they underscore, so the songs alone can elicit that same catharsis & blend of emotions,” says Lou McLaren. “Watch CW shows to hear what the teens are listening to,” says Alicia Adamczyk, personal finance writer at Lifehacker.

Same goes for movie soundtracks, which will have a narrower range of sound, but often their own original hits, like Black Panther, Call Me By Your Name, and anything from Wes Anderson.

And don’t forget video game soundtracks; sister site Kotaku fell in love with Far Cry 5’s in-game cult radio. The Grand Theft Auto series has always been a home for rarities by good bands. More instrumental soundtracks can make great work/study music. We’re fans of the soundtrack to 2d platformer Celeste, which combines piano, synth, and drums.

Look, I’ve not only googled the music from Apple ads, I’ve done it at least five times. Apple has a good ad agency! They pick the songs because they’re catchy! I’m not ashamed but I feel like I’m supposed to be! AppleMusic.info lists the music from Apple commercials from 1984 to 2017.

Spotify and Apple Music

There are loads of features beyond “Discover” for finding new music. And some of the best have nothing to do with algorithms.

Watch the social feed on the Spotify right rail, says Drew Olanoff. And dig through your friends’ public playlists.

If you haven’t searched Spotify for incredibly specific playlists, just to see if they exist, you’re missing the best part of the app. Start with the musical toyboxes we covered.

Listen to the thousand-song Spotify playlist of music from The Best Show, says Twitter’s jitka. This weekly comedy show plays a wide variety of new and old songs.

Search for Spotify Sessions, exclusive recordings from big artists. Apple Music also features exclusives on its Browse tab.

The World

Did you know music exists outside your computer?