Fantastic Beats and Where to Find Them: The Top 4 Best Music Discovery Sites
This is a writing sample from Scripted writer Kirstin Wright
We all have that friend who posts the most obscure, yet wonderful, music on social media. It immediately forces you to pause the Justin Beiber and hit play on whatever they're listening to. And it's just so much cooler. So, where do they find these tunes and how can you get on their level? Check out the list below for some of the best music discovery/streaming services available and maybe next time someone will be asking you: "Where did you find that?" 1. Pandora Think of Pandora like a radio station where your thumbs up or thumbs down directly determines what types of songs and artists are played. You begin by searching for an artist or genre of music that you love. The radio will begin playing familiar tunes that you already enjoy. As you click the thumbs-up button on the ones that get your stamp of approval, Pandora learns more about you. It won't take too long for a new song to hit you and you frantically find yourself searching for more music by that person. Thanks to complex algorithms that use data pulled based on your simple button clicks, Pandora is the best way to discover new artists that you'll love. 2. Spotify If Pandora is missing something, it's a social connection so that listeners can interact with their friends. Spotify has that and more. Users are just a click away from a feed full of what kinds of music friends and family are jamming to. Another neat feature that Spotify has is called "Running." Based on your running pace, the app will select songs to motivate you to reach that personal best. Along with that, you can choose a playlist that reflects what kind of run you want to have, such as a "Fun Run" or a "Power Run." When you hear a song you love, add it to one of the many playlists that you can also create and share on this beautiful app made for the active music lover. 3. SoundCloud SoundCloud is a great source for remixes of some of your favorite songs. You'll also find a lot of amateur artists on here, as anyone can upload their latest creations. Like Spotify, you can also build playlists by clicking the heart icon on tunes you dig. The ability to search by tags on this app makes it even easier to find the type of music you love. 4. Songza Songza was one of the first services that allowed users to search for songs and listen to them. Today, it has added more features to compete with companies that offer the same thing. Here you can create playlists and radio stations similar to others mentioned on this list. Its specialty, however is the many mood/day-based playlists available. Some of the fun options include: Daydreaming, Barbecuing, and Singing Out Loud. This list is a good start for planned music listening, but you should always be on alert for new music because it's everywhere: in commercials, elevators, etc. Always have Shazam at the ready for the moment you hear a song you didn't know you couldn't live without.
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