People are constantly checking out the music on my ipod (iPhone) and asking how I find all these obscure bands to listen to. I'm not so certain that they are obscure, but they are new, at least new compared to Led Zeppelin, Bon Jovi, and Bruce Springsteen, which populates most of my peers collections. Now I like Led Zep, and Skynyrd, and Clapton, but how many times can you really listen to Layla before putting a gun to your head? There really is a ton of fascinating new bands out there and with the proliferation of music blogs, torrent sites, and other forms of new media, we - as music fans - have access to loads of great stuff - more than ever before.

So this then leads back to that original question: How do I find all the new bands that I listen to? I have a little system that I've shared with a few friends and will now share with you. It is a great way to turn on to some musical styles or bands that just wouldn't otherwise come across your radar.

Metacritic - This is one of my favorite websites and a great place to find reviews on music, books, movies, games, and television programs. Rather than having their own in-house writers, Metacritc is a compendium of a crosssection of blogs and review sites, thus their ratings are a composite of many views, providing a much more accurate reading of an items true quality. I check the music section daily for new reviews. Anything that is rated 80 or above and is in one of my chosen genres (indi, rock, alternative, alt country, electronic) then I move on to step 2.

Itunes - Apples Music portal is not only a great place to purchase music, but a great place to preview songs prior to purchase. After finding a few selections that I am interested in, I'll go to the iTunes store and see if those albums are carried there. If so, I will first check the user reviews to see if they are consistent with what I read on Metacritic and then I will preview the tracks to see if it is something I would like. Just because I like what I hear doesn't mean I'm going to purchase them, at least not from the iTunes store. In a concession to the recording industry, apple encodes most of their music with a system known as DRM (Digital Rights Managment), which not only prevents how you listen to your purchased music (there is a limit to how you burn the items to disc and whether you can play them in other players), but also greatly compromises the sound quality. I prefer to avoid DRM if at all possible. Instead I...

Pirate Bay or other Torrent Sites

Now I'm promoting piracy, at least I don't think I am. I think these sites can be plenty useful while still benefiting the artists whose products are swapped via these services. Torrent sites allow you to download files (software, music, movies, etc.) for free. The recording industry has declared war on these sites as they believe that file sharing on the web greatly cuts into their revenue. Whether file sharing has that impact or not is not up for debate here, the manner in which I use these sites (and that which I am suggesting here) is one that would be a boon for the recording industry, if only they would try to find a way to get behind it and support rather than shutting it down. So I search the torrent sites for those selections that passed the previous criteria. If I find them, I will download the torrent file (which will then download the music file to my hard drive). Now I have some new music to check out. If I agree with the reviews, and feel I have a worthwhile album, one that I wish to continue listening to then I move on to the next step. If I don't care for it I delete the music from my hard drive and move on.



Ebay, Amazon, SecondSpin.com, etc.

If after downloading and album I find that I really enjoyed it and would like to make it a part of my listening rotation, I will go to one of the above sites along with a few others that sell 2nd hand cds and if I can find the CD I will purchase it - used preferably. If I can't find it this way then I will go back to Amazon and purchase a new copy. In this way, I feel I am using the torrent sites as a tool to find new music. The file sharing isn't resulting in my purchasing less music. It is resulting in my purchasing more music. It's too bad the music industry doesn't see this as a potential model that is worth promoting.

Last FM Pandora

Metacritic was one of my starting points, but not the only one. LastFM and Pandora are too really cool tools for expanding your musical horizons. They both work similarly - you plug in a few bands or albums that you like and the system plays you music it thinks you would like. You then rate each of the selections which makes the system "smarter" in knowing what your true tastes are. I have found a ton of great music this way. Once I find a few bands or albums that I like I then go back to step 2 and proceed as before.



AllMusic, Pitchfork Media

AllMusic is like an encyclopedia of music. You can plug in any artist, album, or song and pull up a wealth of information about your selection. On the home page of the site are Editors Selections, where the sites editors post their favorite albums of the month. This is a great way to find new stuff as is Pitchfork Media. PM is my favorite music blog. They have a section entitled Best New Music where you can always find great ideas for new things to listen to. Again, I will take any new selections and run them through the above routine.

In the past year I have turned on to scores of new bands that I otherwise wouldn't have come across.



Here are Ten Bands I found through the above system: