I’m more into finding new songs than individual artists, as I like to consistently listen to a variety of different sounds rather than listening to an album all the way through. I have one specific playlist which is just every single song that in the past year I have just thought was ‘nice’, at this point there really is one for any mood or occasion. The section at the bottom of your Spotify playlist is SUCH a lifesaver for new tunes, and the other day from adding a single song from my discover weekly onto a playlist within five mins I had a three-hour selection of music that was all from the ’70s and all from Japenese artists (Minako Yoshida, Taeko Onuki, Kiyotaka Sugiyama & Makoto Matsushita – trust me the vibes are immaculate). I have ignored that part of Spotify for a long time, and it is my new fave for discovering new music that you may not have thought of before. I am definitely going to be more open to potential different sounds because of this and I'm super excited for whatever it shall bring me in the future.
Secondly is the good old classic of other people’s playlists. Everyone takes pride in their playlists, and if you have a little look through either what people are listening to, or their public playlists there could be hidden gems. Although this can be a little time-consuming if you’re procrastinating Uni work, I can’t recommend this one more. I found this the other week when I was bored of rinsing my ‘fierce boogie’ playlist (it’s a banger you should check it out) and looked through my friends to find that he had one of a completely similar vibe, with loads of songs I had forgotten to add on/new ones. This was a great find as it means that that specific playlist now has more variety apart from the classics I had put on there myself and it's spiced up once again! Yes, I did this when I was in the library.
Asking your friends for new songs is always a good one too. With some of my friends, I ask them to send me a song each week just so I can hear different tunes from what I’m currently listening to. One of my flatmates has a collaborative one with his best friend from home and whenever they see a song posted on a story that they like or an artist featured in a song etc, they’ll add it in to hear new sounds, which is a super cool idea as well and makes it social.
Finally, a good way to find certain artists. For smaller bands and singers, looking up their record labels is a good shout because chances are they will have signed similar bands to the ones you already like. When I was younger, I did this a lot, googling “Run for Cover Records” led me to find Citizen, Seahaven, Turnover and Tigers Jaw from Modern Baseball, and from “Dirty Hit” pretty much everyone they have got signed. It’s a great way if you’re after the same sort of vibe and don’t like spending that much time trawling through Spotify.
