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.

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

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.

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.

ultratiem,
@ultratiem@lemmy.ca avatar

This is what honestly sold me on streaming. The access to music is unprecedented and so is the discovery.

To put it in perspective, I have added more 5-star songs to my library in the past 4 years than the previous 20. About 30% of most of my favorite songs were recommended by the system.

I love music. Unless I go deaf, I can’t see my life without it. And I’m glad on some level that it’s not as lucrative as movies so I’m not upset shelling out the monthly fee. Likely the only service that that’s good piracy can’t even come close for me on this one.

Blackmist,

Yeah, the music people were dying to piracy for a good while there.

Spotify is streaming done right. It’s all there, no need to search for which service has it, or pay 99p a track for it.

The TV and movie people should take note, because their streaming services are fucking dire in comparison. For all the stuff Disney owns, there’s a surprising amount of fuck all new on Disney+. It mostly seems to be milking old shite into TV shows nobody asked for.

PropaGandalf,

Also with tidal-dl I can download all of my songs in high res flac quality with lyrics and everything. So I make regular backup all few months.

SwampYankee,

Are you me? I’ve been going wild the last 4 years. Mind sharing a top 5 or something? I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.

Fuck_u_spez_, (edited )

This is why Spotify is the only streaming service I have. Is there a server with >1TB of lossless audio in my basement? Sure, allegedly. Do I want to organize it and build playlists in Plexamp until my fingers bleed? Fuck no, I’d much rather pay $5/mo for a student subscription and tap a few buttons on my phone. Even though as a musician myself it’s nice to know the artists are getting a little kickback, it’s not so much that I’m paying for the music as I am paying for the software.

000999,

Literally a Spotify shilling thread

ultratiem,
@ultratiem@lemmy.ca avatar

Never mentioned what service I use 🤷‍♂️

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.

S410,
@S410@kbin.social avatar

Most music I have is from "Pay what you want" albums from Ponies@Dawn, VibePoniez, A State Of Sugar, etc.
When I come across artists I like, I tend to check out their other tracks and grab the ones I like.

IndiBrony,
@IndiBrony@lemmy.world avatar

Ah, someone else who went down the rabbit hole of pony music.

Koa very quickly became one of my favourite artists as soon as she came in the scene ❤️

What I find amusing is just how many people have no idea how much pony music The Living Tombstone made back in the day.

Two artists who constantly churn out bangers are 4everfree and PrinceWhateverer.

And I’m the same: find an artist, look up their other stuff. I have the full discography of most of my favourite bands/artists.

Bandcamp is phenomenal for finding the niche and unknown!

MrJameGumb,
@MrJameGumb@lemmy.world avatar

Review sites for genres I like. I find a lot of new music on Angry Metal Guy. That one’s just for metal, but there are all kinds of different review sites

Psythik,

I literally type “new music” into YouTube and see where it takes me.

comradegreetingcard,
@comradegreetingcard@lemmy.ml avatar

Aside from what others have said, I look at what other bands the bands I already listen to tour or collaborate with.

user224,
@user224@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

I don’t download full albums, just individual songs I like.

The sources are basically anywhere I hear music, but generally, it’s by listening to radio.

As of now, this has already got me to 1,179 songs with 3 in queue to be downloaded. (If you’re curious, those in queue are: Dana International - Diva; New Kids On The Block - Step By Step; Prince - Purple rain)
It is hard to call it discovery in this case, more like a reminder of the songs since I knew them already.

Other sources include, but are not limited to: Browsing YouTube playlists, searching for artists to see if they have more good songs, buying a CD compilation, searching for someone’s Spotify playlist after peeking into their phone when I liked multiple songs (they didn’t want to share the playlist, but left it “public”), Bus Simulator Ultimate (there I discovered 2 artists, Melihcan and Cem Kılıç), old tapes, bus driver with a Bluetooth speaker (and me with Shazam), parts of songs randomly appearing in my head from who knows where, background music in videos.

As I said, everywhere I can hear music.

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • piracy@lemmy.dbzer0.com
  • localhost
  • All magazines
    •
    Loading…
    Loading the web debug toolbar…
    Attempt #