For those who pirate songs, how do you discover new music?

I know the question is rather awkward at first and I am possibly overlooking something, but I would like to know something I really don’t understand.

In the past I have used modified versions of Spotify and they are fine but obviously no modified version allows you to download songs because it is a premium function at server level and honestly I would like to have my songs on my device, so if I don’t have internet I can still listen to them.

After those modified versions of Spotify, I have used apps like ViMusic, Spotube and SimpMusic which are basically Youtube Music apps but without ads and with more features, including downloading music, the problem is that they do that at the level of the app itself, not in a separate file. And I love these apps and I can not recommend them enough but my phone is a little old and I see 0 need to change it since I use it for basics usage and although this can sound dumb the interface of these apps are full of blur and unnecessary effects that make my device slow, including Spotify, and I don’t like Spotify Lite because I feel it is a very trimmed version of Spotify.

So this is where my question comes in, for those who exclusively download music, how do you discover new songs? Spotify’s recommendation system is great and Youtube’s radio mode is very good but obviously I need to use Spotify or Youtube Music to use it and I prefer to use light apps for local playback because of what I already mentioned.

Edit: Thanks for all the recommendations! I never thought this post would get so many answers and there are too many comments to answer one by one, but I admit that the old-school method of reading blogs or magazines works well, and I also like the idea of sites like Last.fm or discogs.

sodalite,

YouTube shuffle, Bandcamp feed, internet radio stations

Psythik,

“YouTube shuffle”? Last time I heard that term, it was from ChatGPT when I complained to it that I was tired of the algorithm showing me the same videos over and over again. But I can’t find a “shuffle” button anywhere on YouTube, nor do I get any relevant results after googling it. So I told GPT it was full of shit and it agreed with me.

Please tell me how to use this “YouTube Shuffle” feature.

sodalite,
Psythik,

All that button does is shuffle the current playlist you’re viewing. Doesn’t give you random videos.

sodalite,

YouTube adds related videos to the playlist. Have you really never used this site before?

But let’s be real, YouTube is not the source you wanna depend on given its owned by Google. The more you listen on there the more data you give them. It just has everything you need to rip from.

sodalite,

On that note, here’s some other sites I’ve used to find new stuff:

ChaoticNeutralCzech,

I used to listen to the radio and record songs on my feature phone (mono 16k 4bit samples/s).

Now !kulturgut and downloading using NewPipe (I don’t care about quality).

paraphrand,

Just steal access to someone’s Spotify credentials.

nostradiel,
@nostradiel@lemmy.world avatar

You can use Vanced Spotify for unlimited listening, but the quality of recommendations on Spotify is terrible.

Voltage808s,
@Voltage808s@kerala.party avatar

Yeah. Unless you have a distinctly niche music taste, spotify just recommends everyone the same thing. Maybe a little bit more personalized by adding a few songs you listened to in the past.

glibg10b,

I use the ReVanced version of YouTube Music (no ads, high quality music). If I find a song that I like, I download it in FLAC format from one of the sites in the megathread

DestroyerOfWorlds,

listen to college/indie radio and follow their playlists.

KUOM KCPR WFMU

backhdlp,
@backhdlp@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

I usually get it from the YouTube algorithm, but I’ll also check up on some labels every now and then and see what they got new. I also follow some individual artists.

frogbellyratbone_,
@frogbellyratbone_@hexbear.net avatar

mostly from different subreddits i follow. others are record companies, and youtube channels like audiotree, kexp, tiny desk

Doll_Tow_Jet-ski,

I get most of my recommendations via Diaspora and Mastodon (2 social networks that are part of the fediverse). They allow you to follow hashtags, so I just follow the hashtags of the music I'm interested and see people's posts that are tagged with them

agentshags,
@agentshags@sh.itjust.works avatar

Back when I was on both what.cd and waffles, the free leech periods were great. I discovered a few artists I really enjoyed after. Months after even. Bored, going through gigs of tunes browsing, a few just hit. Even found myself interested in genres I ‘wasn’t into’.

WeLoveCastingSpellz,

I don’t I am stuck ekth the same albums send help

Voltage808s,
@Voltage808s@kerala.party avatar

I use last.fm to track the songs i am listening to and ot gives spotify like recommendations and monthly statistics on what kind of music you listen to,top artist etc.

just_another_person,

Listen to the internet stations that are local to you, and have actual programmers daily. Some of the bigger ones in the US are KCRW, KEXP, WFMU, and any college radio station. Places that have guest bands come through and play a bit so you can hear how it sounds outside of a studio are the best in my opinion.

Madagarian,

Got my KEXP bank card. Gotta rep the best.

jetsetdorito,

im sad I got kicked off some private trackers for inactivity after streaming picked up 😮‍💨

MigratingtoLemmy,

Recommendations are a must for me since I listen to genres which do not do well with western audiences in terms of organic recommendations.

If you want an automatic way to discover new music before you actually stumble upon the music itself, listenbrainz might be a decent FOSS alternative to last.fm. I would also use libre.fm on a personal server to check my own habits.

However, I also use YouTube music a lot, especially when I want to find something new. This does need one to be active on YT music with specific cookies set (in case you’d like to transfer listening history and habits across browsers/computers without signing in) to give you good recommendations. The good part is that it can likely show you good recommendations inside a few hours of you showing it what you like by playing your favourites.

For example, it was on YouTube music that I found Today is a beautiful day by Supercell and Et si tu n’existais pas by Hélène Ségara & Joe Dassin.

Cheers

floofloof,

You could look at everynoise.com to find artists close on the map to ones you like, and to discover related genres. It’s based on Spotify’s database.

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